A plain definition
A Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a structured, machine-readable set of information about a specific product, connected through a data carrier such as a QR code to a persistent unique identifier. It is designed to be read by people and by systems, and to remain available and interoperable over the life of the product.
The DPP is established in EU law through the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which entered into force on 18 July 2024. The ESPR is the framework; the specific data, product level and dates for each product group are set by a separate delegated act.
What the ESPR already fixes
- The passport connects through a data carrier to a persistent unique product identifier.
- The data carrier is present on the product, its packaging or its documentation.
- The data uses open standards and an interoperable, machine-readable, searchable and transferable format.
- The passport is available to customers before they are bound by a purchase, including online.
- The economic operator placing the product on the market is responsible for the information.
What depends on each delegated act
The ESPR does not impose one universal passport on every product on the same day. Each product group receives its own delegated act that defines the mandatory fields, the granularity of model, batch or item, the access rights and the transition period. The first Digital Product Passport under the wider EU framework applies to industrial and electric-vehicle batteries from February 2027. For textiles and apparel, the Commission working plan gives 2027 as the indicative year to adopt the measure, with the final requirements and dates following in the delegated act. It is not accurate to say the DPP is compulsory for all products across the EU in 2026 or 2027.
DPP, QR code and Digital Twin
The QR or other carrier is the doorway, not the passport itself. The passport is the governed dataset behind it. When that dataset is persistent and accumulates events and services over time, it becomes a Digital Twin. For the field-level view, see the operational DPP data requirements.