Europe’s Digital Product Passport (DPP) is moving from regulatory planning towards practical implementation, bringing a new challenge for businesses: managing reliable, structured and accessible product information throughout the product lifecycle.
Under the European Union’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), the Digital Product Passport is intended to improve access to information about products, components and materials. Depending on the applicable product-specific requirements, this information may cover product origin, materials, environmental performance, repairability, safety, reuse and recycling. The objective is to improve transparency, support circular business models and make relevant product information easier to access across the value chain.
The shift is already taking shape. In July 2026, the European Commission launched the Digital Product Passport Registry, establishing an important part of the infrastructure needed to support the system. Certain batteries are scheduled to require a Digital Product Passport from 18 February 2027, while additional product categories are expected to follow according to their respective regulatory timelines.
For manufacturers, importers, suppliers and other businesses placing products on the European market, preparation involves more than creating a digital record or adding a QR code to a product. It requires a dependable way to collect, validate, maintain and share information that may originate across multiple systems, suppliers and business relationships.
The real challenge is not simply making product information digital. It is ensuring that the information is accurate, traceable, accessible to the right people and maintained as the product changes throughout its lifecycle.
The Digital Product Passport is often visualised as a QR code attached to a physical product. Although a digital data carrier can provide the link between a product and its passport, the underlying system involves considerably more than the code itself.
A DPP is a structured digital record that provides access to relevant product information according to the applicable requirements and access rights. The information may need to be available to different stakeholders, including consumers, manufacturers, distributors, repairers, recyclers and public authorities.
Each group has different information needs. A consumer may want to understand a product’s sustainability characteristics. A repairer may need technical information to maintain or repair it. A recycler may require information about materials and components, while a regulator may need access to specific records to assess compliance.
This means businesses must consider not only what information they hold, but also how it is organised, which product or product batch it relates to, how it is updated and who is authorised to access it.
The EU framework also distinguishes between the central registry and the underlying product information. The registry supports product identification and registration metadata, while the complete passport information is stored by the responsible economic operator or an appropriate Digital Product Passport service provider.
Consequently, businesses cannot treat registration as a substitute for maintaining their own product information and supporting processes.
A QR code can point towards the right information, but it cannot correct inaccurate supplier records, reconcile conflicting product specifications or ensure that a document reflects the latest product version.
Those responsibilities depend on the quality of the data and the processes behind it.
Most businesses already hold substantial amounts of product information. The difficulty is that the information often exists across systems that serve different operational purposes.
Product specifications may sit within product information management (PIM) platforms. Procurement teams may maintain supplier details in enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Sustainability teams may hold environmental assessments in spreadsheets, while compliance departments manage declarations, certificates and supporting documentation in separate repositories.
Each system may be appropriate for its original purpose. However, preparing information for a Digital Product Passport requires the business to bring the relevant data together and establish that it is complete, consistent and linked to the correct product.
Consider a manufacturer sourcing components from multiple suppliers. One supplier provides material composition details, another supplies environmental information, and a third maintains technical specifications. Before this information can be used in a product passport, the manufacturer may need to check its accuracy, resolve inconsistencies, and establish which information applies to each product model, batch, or individual item.
The complexity increases when products are modified, components are replaced, or supplier information changes. Data that was accurate at the time of manufacture may no longer reflect the product’s current configuration or the information required for its ongoing use.
Without clear ownership and update procedures, teams can end up relying on outdated documents, repeating data collection exercises or manually reconciling conflicting records.
For businesses preparing for Digital Product Passport compliance, the priority should therefore be to understand where product information originates, who is responsible for maintaining it and how it moves between systems.
Making product information available digitally does not automatically make it reliable. Businesses must also consider the quality, context and traceability of the information they publish or share.
Three areas deserve particular attention.
Data quality and validation. Product information needs to be sufficiently accurate and complete for the applicable requirements. Businesses should establish validation procedures to identify missing fields, inconsistent specifications, and information that requires confirmation from a supplier or internal team.
Traceability and version control. Organisations need to understand where information originated, which product it relates to, and when it was updated. When a product changes, teams should be able to identify the relevant records and determine whether the passport information also requires updating.
Interoperability and structured data. Information must be exchanged between systems in ways that preserve its meaning and usability. Different suppliers may use different formats, terminology, and identifiers. Businesses need processes that allow relevant information to be mapped into the required structures without losing important context.
These considerations become especially important when a company manages a large product portfolio or operates across several markets.
A business may have established processes for collecting product data, but those processes may not support the level of standardisation, accessibility or traceability required for new regulatory obligations.
The European Commission’s Digital Product Passport framework sets out the broader direction, including requirements around interoperability, data access and product identification.
The specific information required will depend on the applicable legislation for each product category.
Businesses should avoid assuming that a single universal checklist will apply to every product. Instead, they need to map their existing information against the requirements relevant to the products they manufacture, import or place on the EU market.
A Digital Product Passport may be associated with a single finished product, but the information required to support it can originate across an extensive supply chain.
Manufacturers depend on suppliers for material specifications, component details and other relevant product information. Suppliers, in turn, may rely on their own upstream partners. As a result, the organisation responsible for placing a product on the market may not directly control every source of information needed to maintain its passport.
This creates a coordination challenge.
Businesses need to establish what information they require from suppliers, how that information should be submitted, how its accuracy will be assessed, and how changes will be communicated. They may also need to clarify contractual responsibilities and determine how sensitive commercial information will be shared.
Access management is particularly important because not every stakeholder should necessarily see every piece of product information. The applicable EU framework provides for access based on defined rights, which can vary according to the product category and stakeholder.
A practical approach is to establish consistent supplier data requirements and integrate them into existing procurement and product management processes. Rather than requesting information only when a passport needs to be created, organisations can make relevant data collection and updates part of normal supplier collaboration.
They should also consider what happens when a supplier changes a component, revises a specification or provides new supporting documentation. Without an agreed process for communicating these changes, product records can quickly become inconsistent.
Ultimately, Digital Product Passport readiness depends not only on a company’s internal systems but also on its ability to coordinate information across the wider value chain.
As product information moves between manufacturers, suppliers, service providers and other stakeholders, businesses must consider an additional question: how can they establish trust in the organisations and parties providing or accessing that information?
This is where digital identity infrastructure can complement the wider product data ecosystem.
Moebius and its partner alongID operate in a related area of digital trust, with alongID focused on reusable digital identity, verified credentials and secure information sharing across organisations and borders.
Through its digital identity and verification infrastructure, alongID is designed to help businesses establish trusted identity information and reuse verified credentials across relevant services and business relationships. This can be relevant in supply chain environments where organisations need to identify counterparties, verify business information, or reduce repeated verification steps.
For example, a manufacturer working with suppliers across multiple countries may need to establish who a supplier is, verify relevant organisational details and manage trusted business relationships before exchanging sensitive information. Reusable, verifiable credentials can help reduce repeated identity checks where the relevant credentials, systems and processes support that use case.
This is distinct from managing the product data itself. Digital identity does not replace product specifications, sustainability information, technical documentation or the systems needed to create and maintain a Digital Product Passport.
Instead, it addresses a complementary question: how organisations can establish trust in identities and credentials within digital interactions.
The distinction matters because a complete product information ecosystem involves several different capabilities. Businesses need reliable product data, systems for managing that data, mechanisms for exchanging information and appropriate ways to establish trust in the parties involved.
The alongID platform focuses on the identity and verification layer. Its potential relevance to a business’s DPP preparation should be assessed according to the particular identity, credential and information-sharing requirements involved; it should not be treated as a standalone DPP compliance solution.
For Möbius and alongID, this provides a relevant perspective on the broader digital transformation taking place across Europe: trusted digital interactions depend not only on the information being exchanged, but also on the processes and infrastructure that support it.
Businesses do not need to wait for every sector-specific requirement to be finalised before assessing their readiness. They can begin by understanding their existing product information and identifying the operational gaps that could make future implementation difficult.
A structured preparation process should include the following priorities.
Determine what information is required, at what level of product identification, and according to which timeline.
These steps can help businesses move from general awareness of the regulation towards a practical implementation plan. They also create opportunities to improve product information management beyond regulatory compliance.
The Digital Product Passport is part of Europe’s wider effort to improve product transparency, support circularity and make reliable information more accessible throughout the value chain.
As implementation progresses, businesses will need to look beyond the passport interface itself. Their readiness will depend on the quality of their underlying product information, the consistency of their documentation, the reliability of supplier collaboration and their ability to maintain records as products evolve.
The first step is to establish a clear view of the information already available, the gaps that remain, and the processes required to keep product records accurate over time. Businesses should then align their systems and responsibilities with the requirements applicable to their products, rather than assume that one approach will suit every sector.
Digital identity and verification capabilities may also have a supporting role in the wider ecosystem, particularly where organisations need trusted business identities and reusable credentials when interacting across borders. The work of Möbius and its partner alongID is relevant to this broader digital trust landscape, while product data management and the applicable DPP requirements remain separate areas that businesses must address directly.
The organisations best positioned for the transition will be those that treat product information as an operational asset rather than a collection of documents assembled for a regulatory deadline.
A successful Digital Product Passport depends on more than publishing product data. It depends on building the processes, systems, and trusted relationships that keep that data accurate, accessible, and useful throughout the product lifecycle.
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