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Digital product passports, explained for New Zealand exporters
Food and drink are excluded. Three kinds of battery need a passport from 18 February 2027. Toys need one from 1 August 2030.
A digital product passport is a set of structured data about one product, reached from a code on the product itself. The European Union is bringing them in, one product group at a time.
If you export food or drink from New Zealand, the ecodesign rule does not reach your product. If you export an e-bike battery, your date is 18 February 2027, fixed by law. For everything else, a published year is the year the Commission plans to adopt a rule, and your date comes later.
Only two of these dates are fixed by law
The first question is if the regulation reaches your product at all
Does this apply to me? Food, feed, drink and medicinal products are excluded. See what it means for New Zealand exporters and food and feed are excluded.
What is one of these, exactly? Structured data about one product, not a QR code that opens a marketing page. See what is a digital product passport and what a passport is not.
When is my deadline? A battery date and a toy date are fixed in law. Every other year on the Commission plan is an adoption year, and the duty starts later. See how to read the timeline.
What should I do first? See first steps for a New Zealand exporter. Step one lets most readers stop.
What is everybody else in New Zealand asking? This site read 104 New Zealand pages and answered the questions they leave open. See when a passport reaches your product and what New Zealand industry has published.
A published year is not a deadline, and wine is food
A published year is not a deadline. It is the year the European Commission plans to adopt a rule. The duty starts later. See what a delegated act is.
Wine is food. The ecodesign regulation borrows its meaning of food from an earlier law, where food includes drink. So a New Zealand wine is outside that regulation. See wine, beer and spirits.
Nothing binds yet, except batteries and toys. The framework has been law since July 2024. It reaches no product group until the Commission adopts a rule for that group, and it has adopted none. Both exceptions come from other laws. See batteries and toys.
Every product below is excluded, or waits for a delegated act, except batteries and toys
| Your product | Status | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| Food, drink, honey, dairy, meat | Excluded. No date reaches them. | Food and feed are excluded |
| Wine, beer, spirits | Excluded. Drink is food in European law. | Wine, beer and spirits |
| Wool, clothing, footwear, carpet | Indicative. 2029 at the earliest. | Textiles |
| Batteries, e-bike or industrial | Fixed by law. 18 February 2027. | Batteries |
| Toys | Fixed by law. 1 August 2030. | Toys |
| Timber, insulation, fittings | Planned. The duty sits in a different law. | Construction products |
| Cosmetics, supplements, extracts | Not adopted. No rule covers them yet. | Cosmetics and natural health |
| Furniture, mattresses | Indicative. Late 2029 at the earliest. | Furniture |
| A component inside somebody else's product | No duty on you. Your customer asks instead. | Component suppliers |
| Packaging for any of the above | No confirmed duty. Packaging has its own rule. | Packaging |
Every product group is listed in which products need a passport, and when.
Every document cites its sources, and marks every date
Every document answers one question that no other document answers. Each cites its sources, and marks every date: in force, adopted, operational, indicative, planned or draft.
Where sources disagree, this site shows the disagreement and attributes both readings. Where a fact cannot be verified, this site leaves it out and says so. The sources page ranks every source it uses, and lists what this site does not know.
The site is written for people who sell things, not for lawyers. It is a reference, and it is not advice.
To read the full set in order, start at the contents page. To find one term, article or standard, use the index. For the short answers, read the questions and answers.
Every document says when it was last checked, and when it is due to be checked again. A document past its review date says so on the page.