EU Digital Product Passports: What’s New in 2025–2026

22/12/2025

The EU Digital Product Passport (DPP) is rapidly moving from policy concept to legal reality — and its impact is now crossing from regulation into market enforcement, standards development, supply-chain compliance and technology adoption.

Below is a concise news update on where things stand as of December 2025.

1. Where the DPP Comes From

The Digital Product Passport is a central part of the European Union's sustainability agenda, sitting within the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) — a flagship initiative under the European Green Deal that aims to transform how products are made, tracked and used across their lifecycles.

At its core, a DPP is a digital record linked to a physical product that consolidates verified information on a product's:

identity and traceability
materials and composition
environmental impact
repair, reuse and recycling guidance
compliance and safety data

This information is intended to be machine-readable, interoperable and accessible throughout the supply chain — and in some cases to consumers via QR codes or similar technology.

2. Implementation Is Now in Progress

Although the DPP is not yet universally mandatory, implementation has begun and the timeline is now clear:

The ESPR entered into force in July 2024, giving the legal basis for DPP obligations.
Product categories are being phased in between 2026 and 2030, with priority given to high-impact products such as batteries, iron & steel, textiles, furniture, electronics and tyres.
A central EU DPP registry and interoperable systems are expected to be operational by mid-2026, laying the data infrastructure foundation.

This phased approach reflects the sheer scale and complexity of gathering verified lifecycle product data — requiring supply chain cooperation and robust digital systems.

3. Standardisation Is Accelerating

In parallel, European standards bodies are actively working on the technical foundations that will underpin the DPP regime.

According to recent commentary from the convenor of a key European working group, eight harmonised standards for the DPP data and interoperability framework are expected to be completed by 2026. These standards will help ensure data consistency, scalability and market-wide compatibility.

Mandatory DPP requirements are already slated to start applying to certain product groups — such as battery storage systems over 2 kWh — beginning in 2027, with additional categories following thereafter.

4. Market & Technology Developments

The need for digital and traceability infrastructure is already influencing technology adoption and market growth:

The market for digital product passport solutions (software, platforms, tagging technologies, traceability services) is projected to grow sharply over the next decade as companies prepare for compliance.openPR.com
NFC, QR and RFID technologies are advancing to support secure, standardised access to DPP data across devices and systems.allaboutcircuits.com
Decentralised technologies such as blockchain and verifiable credentials are also being explored as tools to improve data integrity and trust.

These developments illustrate that the DPP is not merely a regulatory tick-box — it is reshaping product data, supply chain architecture and digital transformation strategies.

5. DPP Is Spreading Across EU Product Laws

The Digital Product Passport is no longer confined just to ESPR. New and updated EU product legislation is increasingly embedding DPP requirements as a core compliance tool.

For example, the recently published EU Toy Safety Regulation (2025/2509) explicitly includes DPP obligations in its requirements — and this is expected to influence how toy compliance and product data reporting operate within the EU market.

Meanwhile, timelines for consumer products like detergents also foresee mandatory DPP implementation after transitional periods following final legislative acts.circularise.com

6. What This Means for Businesses Now

✔ Prepare early: The phased nature of the rules gives organisations time — but the data requirements are substantial and will affect design, procurement, manufacturing and after-sales functions.
✔ Build supply chain cooperation: Achieving verified DPP data will require collaboration across suppliers, logistics partners and service providers.
✔ Invest in digital systems: Whether through internal platforms or external service providers, companies will need robust digital infrastructure to collect, store, update and publish DPP information.
✔ Watch delegated acts: The EU Commission will issue specific delegated legal acts for each product category that define exact DPP content and compliance timelines.

Conclusion

The Digital Product Passport is more than a future concept — it is actively shaping the regulatory and commercial landscape of product compliance in the EU. With implementation milestones starting as early as 2026, companies, auditors and compliance professionals must understand that DPP is evolving from policy into enforceable reality.

References

European Commission (2024) Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). Available at: https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu (Accessed: 22 December 2025).

European Commission (2025) Digital Product Passport: Advancing transparency and sustainability. Available at: https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/news (Accessed: 22 December 2025).

Segura Systems (2025) Digital Product Passport: What you need to know. Available at: https://www.segura.co.uk/resources (Accessed: 22 December 2025).

WIOT Group (2025) EU Digital Product Passport: standards, timelines and implementation. Available at: https://wiot-group.com (Accessed: 22 December 2025).

Wikipedia (2025) EU Digital Product Passport. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EU_Digital_Product_Passport (Accessed: 22 December 2025).