All documents

This site holds 116 documents. Each answers one question that no other document answers. Start with the section that matches your product.

Foundations

How a digital product passport differs from a barcode A barcode identifies a product. A digital product passport describes one, and EU law sets different rules for each.
What a digital product passport costs No published pilot gives a cost, a time or a benefit figure. Here are the numbers that circulate, and what each one really measures.
What data a digital product passport holds It depends on the product group. The EU battery regulation sets a full data list, and this page sets that list out.
What is a digital product passport? A digital product passport is a set of structured data about one product, reached from a code on the product itself.
What is not a digital product passport A QR code to a marketing page, a PDF, a login portal, a spreadsheet or a blockchain entry is not a passport. Here is what each one lacks.
What problem digital product passports are meant to solve The people who handle a product after the sale cannot find out what it is made of. A digital product passport is the European answer to that gap.
Where the digital product passport idea came from The passport comes from EU recycling and repair policy, not from trade policy. That decides the type of data it carries.
Who reads a digital product passport, and what they want A consumer is one reader out of six, and reads the least. Most readers are computer systems that act for an authority, a recycler or a buyer.
Why digital product passports are in the news now Two European events landed in July 2026. The Commission cited six passport standards, and it opened the EU registry. Neither event binds a product.
Why your website cannot be the digital product passport A well built web page fails five rules in EU law. This page names each rule, and the article of the law that sets it.

The law

How ESPR Article 9 makes a passport a condition of market access Article 9 bars a covered product from the EU market without a passport. No delegated act covers any product group yet, so it binds nothing.
The EU battery regulation, and the first binding passport duty The EU battery regulation requires a battery passport for each battery in three categories from 18 February 2027, with no delegated act needed.
The EU passport portal, and how it differs from the registry Article 14 requires a public portal where people can search and compare passport data. The registry is a different system, and it is open.
The EU passport registry, and who must upload to it The EU registry has been operational since July 2026. No operator must upload to it yet, and a registration identifier is not proof of compliance.
What a delegated act is, and why it sets your date A delegated act is the rule the European Commission writes for one product group. It sets the date a passport duty starts.
What a harmonised standard is, and why it is voluntary A harmonised standard is a technical document cited in the Official Journal. Citation gives a presumption of conformity, not a duty.
What an implementing act is, and why it is not your deadline An implementing act says how a party applies a law that already exists, and it never creates a passport duty for your product.
What happens if you do not comply with a passport rule A covered product without a passport cannot go on the EU market, and this site cannot tell you what penalties member states set.
What Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736 does The Decision cites six European standards for digital product passports. A product built to them gets a presumption of conformity.
What is the ESPR, the EU ecodesign regulation? The ESPR is the EU law that creates the digital product passport. It is in force, and by itself it requires a passport for no product.
What law creates the digital product passport Two EU laws, not one. The ecodesign regulation is the frame and binds nothing yet. The battery regulation carries the only duty today.
What presumption of conformity means for your product An authority treats your product as compliant because you built it to a cited standard. It is not permission, and not a certificate.
Which product groups the ESPR names as priorities The EU ecodesign regulation names priority product groups such as steel and textiles. A priority list is a work plan, not a duty.
Which products the ESPR excludes, and what that means ESPR Article 1(2) excludes food, feed, medicinal products and living things, and no later ESPR rule can reach an excluded product.

The standards

EN 18216, the passport data exchange standard EN 18216 stays voluntary, so no law makes you build to it. The text is sold rather than published, so this site states nothing that it requires.
EN 18219, the standard for unique identifiers EN 18219 stays voluntary, and the ESPR itself names the ISO/IEC 15459 series and no vendor scheme. No law makes you buy an identifier service.
EN 18220, the data carrier standard for passports A data carrier is the code a scanner reads on a product. EN 18220 stays voluntary, and no ecodesign passport rule reaches any product group yet.
EN 18221: data storage, archiving, and persistence A battery passport must stay readable after your company stops, and that duty starts in 2027. The text is sold, so this site states no requirement.
EN 18222: passport application programming interfaces EN 18222 stays voluntary, and nobody has to build to it. The text is sold rather than published, so this site states nothing that it requires.
prEN 18239 is a draft standard, and it binds nobody The draft covers access rights for a passport. The Official Journal does not cite it, so it gives you no presumption of conformity.
prEN 18246, the draft standard on data authentication The Official Journal does not cite the draft, so it gives no presumption of conformity. The battery duty on data authentication arrives first.
What EN 18223 covers, and the law it serves EN 18223:2026 is one of six cited European standards. It covers passport system interoperability, which the EU battery regulation requires.
What Standardisation Request M/604 is, and why it matters Standardisation Request M/604 is the European Commission instruction to CEN and CENELEC to write the digital product passport standards.
Which standards apply to a digital product passport The European Commission cited six European standards for digital product passports. All six stay voluntary.
Who writes the digital product passport standards CEN and CENELEC write them in one joint committee, CEN/CLC/JTC 24, with its secretariat at DIN. New Zealand has no seat on it.
Why you cannot read the six passport standards The six passport standard texts are sold, not published. Distributor listings put each one between 190 and 370 euros.

Sectors and timing

Aluminium has no adopted EU passport rule The Commission plans to adopt a rule in late 2027, so an aluminium passport applies in 2029 at the earliest. That year rests on a work plan.
Construction products get a passport from their own law Construction products get a passport from their own law, not from the ecodesign rules. The Commission plans the rule for Q2 2027, and that is not your date.
Detergents get a passport from their own EU regulation A detergent passport comes from Regulation (EU) 2026/405, not from the EU ecodesign rules. This site holds no date for it.
Do cosmetics and natural health products need a passport? Cosmetics are inside the EU ecodesign regulation, and no rule covers them yet. A natural health product follows its classification.
Does your packaging need a digital product passport? Packaging has its own EU rule, Regulation (EU) 2025/40. The food exclusion does not reach it, and no packaging passport duty is confirmed.
Food and feed are excluded from the EU passport rule ESPR Article 1(2) puts both outside the full regulation, so this is not a delay. The exclusion stops at the food and never reaches your packaging.
Furniture and mattresses: no EU passport rule exists yet The Commission plans to adopt a rule in 2028, so a furniture passport applies in late 2029 at the earliest. No published study stands behind that year.
How to read the digital product passport timeline The years in the EU plan are the dates rules get written, not the dates you must comply. Compliance is about two years later.
Medicines are excluded from the EU passport rule ESPR Article 1(2) puts medicines and veterinary medicines outside the full regulation. The classification in your destination market decides.
Paints, lubricants and chemicals have no passport rule yet The ecodesign priority list names all three and gives no year. They stay inside the ecodesign frame, so a rule can still arrive for them.
Toys need a digital product passport from 1 August 2030 The EU toy regulation sets that date, and the ecodesign programme never names toys. Watch the toy law, and not the ecodesign work plan.
When a tyre needs a digital product passport No EU tyre passport rule exists. The Commission plans to adopt one in late 2027, so a tyre passport applies in 2029 at the earliest.
When an electronics product needs an EU passport No electronics passport rule exists. The Commission plans to adopt one in 2029, which puts application in late 2030 at the earliest.
When an energy-related product needs an EU passport No passport rule covers an energy-related product today. The old EU ecodesign directive is not fully repealed, and parts of it still apply.
When an iron or steel product needs an EU passport No steel passport rule exists yet. The Commission plans to adopt one in late 2026, so the earliest application is about mid 2028.
When clothing, footwear and textiles need an EU passport No EU rule for textiles is adopted. The Commission plans to adopt one in late 2027, so a textile passport applies in 2029 at the earliest.
Which batteries need a digital product passport, and when Three battery categories need a passport from 18 February 2027. An e-bike battery is covered, whatever its size.
Which products need a digital product passport, and when Only three kinds of battery have a firm date. Every other sector waits for a rule that does not exist yet.
Why the textile passport date is not 2027 Late 2027 is the planned adoption year for the EU textile rule. A textile passport applies in mid to late 2029 at the earliest.
Wine, beer and spirits are outside the EU passport rule Drink is food in European law, so the EU ecodesign regulation does not reach wine, beer or spirits, but packaging rules still do.

How it works

Can a New Zealand Business Number be your operator identifier? No verified source accepts a New Zealand Business Number as an EU operator identifier, and no source rules it out. Do not assume it works.
CIRPASS-2 listed 46 open-source passport tools, and vetted none of them The OpenDPP catalogue is a directory of software, published on 26 August 2026. Its own disclaimer says nobody checked the entries against a standard or a rule.
Content negotiation, one passport address with two answers One web address can answer a person with a page and a machine with structured data. The caller states which answer it wants.
Free access is in the law, the no-app rule is not Nothing in the primary texts read here bans an app or a login for a passport. Access stays free of charge.
How a digital product passport works A scan reads an identifier, a service turns it into a web address, and the data comes back from the company, not from the EU.
Structured data, and why no EU law names a format Structured data gives each value a label a machine can read. No EU text this site has read names a data format for a passport.
The EU does not require a GS1 Digital Link GS1 Digital Link writes a product identifier as a web address. The EU ecodesign regulation does not name it anywhere in its text.
Verifiable credentials and blockchain are not required No verified EU instrument requires a verifiable credential or a blockchain. The one binding duty asks for data authentication and names no method.
What a data carrier is, and which one you need A data carrier is the QR code, Data Matrix code or radio tag on a product. The passport is the data behind it, and EU law names no symbol.
What a facility identifier is, and whether you need one A facility identifier names a place, not a company and not a product. No law requires one from a New Zealand exporter today.
What a GTIN is, and whether you already have one A GTIN is the number under a retail barcode. It names a product model, and the EU ecodesign regulation names it through ISO/IEC 15459-6.
What a product identifier is, and what the law requires A unique product identifier names one product and nothing else. EU law names the ISO/IEC 15459 series, and no vendor scheme.
What a resolver is, and whether you need one A resolver turns the identifier in a code into the address of that product's data, and sends the request there. It is the step between the scan and the answer.
What a semantic data model is, and why a passport needs one A semantic data model is an agreed set of names and meanings, so two systems built by different companies mean the same thing.
What an Asset Administration Shell is, and what it does not do An Asset Administration Shell is a data pattern for describing an asset. It is not a passport, and no verified EU instrument requires it.
What is an economic operator identifier, and do you need one? An operator identifier names the company, not the product. No adopted EU act tells a New Zealand exporter which one to hold.
Which identifier schemes are permitted, and what is verified The ESPR names the ISO/IEC 15459 series and no vendor scheme. This site does not know how many identifier schemes EN 18219 permits, because the text is sold.

Data, access and durability

A battery passport must stay up to date after the sale EU battery law requires the passport data to stay accurate, complete and up to date until the battery is recycled.
A passport does not publish your formulation or supplier list No. The EU battery passport holds the detailed composition in a restricted tier, and a host may not sell the data on.
A passport starts with one item and ends when it is recycled Only the EU battery law writes these rules. A repair keeps the passport, a repurposed battery gets a new one, and a recycler ends it.
How long a digital product passport must stay available Longer than you sell the product. A battery passport must stay available after the company stops, and it ends only after recycling.
Personal data in a digital product passport: open questions The product law limits personal data in a passport. No article read here requires a passport to be immutable, and the EU registry holds data about people.
What happens to a passport if the company closes EU law makes the battery passport stay available after the responsible company closes, or after it stops selling in the Union.
What happens to an old version of a passport EU law requires passport data to be accurate and up to date. It does not say if you must keep the version you replaced.
What is public in a passport, and what is not In the EU battery passport only Annex XIII point 1 is public. No confirmed rule defines a person with a legitimate interest.
Who can see what in a digital product passport A passport is not one public page. The EU battery law sets three access tiers, and the general public reaches only one of them.
Who is liable if the passport data is wrong? The operator that places the product on the EU market is liable. For a New Zealand exporter that is usually the EU importer.

Roles

What a distributor or a retailer must do for a passport A distributor that resells does not place a product on the market. The act, not the job title, decides who holds the passport duty.
What a manufacturer must do for a product passport A manufacturer carries the passport duty only if it places the product on the EU market. A New Zealand maker supplies the data instead.
What a non-EU exporter must supply to an EU importer Your EU importer carries the legal duty. It cannot sell your product until you supply the documents, the marks and the product data.
What a passport service provider does, and do you need one A service provider stores and serves passport data for the operator that carries the duty. EU law permits a provider and permits self hosting.
What a recycler or a repairer gets from a passport The EU battery law gives a person with a legitimate interest the composition data and the item-level condition data. Who counts is not settled.
What an EU importer must do, and why it matters to you The EU importer usually places your product on the market, so it carries the passport duty. It must check your documents before it may sell.
Who checks a digital product passport, and when A market surveillance authority checks a product on sale. Customs act at the border. A request reaches your European importer first.
Who is the economic operator for your product? The economic operator is the company that places the product on the EU market. For a New Zealand exporter that is usually the EU importer.

New Zealand

A provenance mark is not a digital product passport The FernMark and other New Zealand provenance marks answer a different question. No mark meets a European passport requirement.
Does this reach my product, and why the lists disagree Thirty-nine New Zealand pages leave the scope question open, and some publish category lists that the ecodesign regulation does not support.
First steps for a New Zealand exporter Six steps in order. Step one is a test, and a food exporter can stop after it.
How to agree data duties with your EU importer Your EU importer usually carries the legal duty. It can only pass on the data you send, so agree in writing who supplies, approves and updates each item.
How would I build a passport, and what New Zealand has built already Ten New Zealand pages ask how a passport gets built and none answers it. Three New Zealand systems exist, and no adopted act recognises any of them.
If you supply a component, the request reaches you by contract No EU law puts a passport duty on a New Zealand component supplier. The request arrives from your customer, as a condition of purchase.
Is a digital product passport a trade barrier? A passport rule applies to European and New Zealand goods alike, and the trade agreement gives you little protection. The cost decides if it is a barrier.
New Zealand food exporters do not need a passport Food and drink sit outside the EU ecodesign regulation, and that exclusion is permanent. The carton is a separate product with its own rule.
The New Zealand-EU trade agreement does not cover passports The agreement has been in force since 1 May 2024. It contains no digital product passport provision and no dedicated circular economy article.
What data goes in a passport, and why no list is settled Seven New Zealand pages ask what a passport holds. Every answer is a list of subjects, and only the battery regulation names real fields.
What digital product passports mean for New Zealand exporters Food and drink are excluded from the EU ecodesign rule. Here is who is actually affected, and what to do about it.
What does a passport cost, and why no New Zealand source says Thirteen New Zealand pages raise cost and none gives a figure. The only priced items are the standards, at 847.47 New Zealand dollars each.
What New Zealand agencies have said about product passports Three agencies have published on digital product passports, and MFAT published twice. Not one of the four documents gives you a compliance date.
What New Zealand industry has published about passports Industry bodies and companies published more than the government did. GS1 New Zealand leads with 16 pages, and HERA started before MFAT.
When a New Zealand clothing or wool exporter needs a passport No EU passport rule covers clothing, footwear or wool today. The planned textile rule would apply from about 2029, not 2027.
When does a passport reach my product, and why nobody in New Zealand says Fifty-two New Zealand pages raise the timing question and leave it open. Two dates are fixed in law, and every other year is a plan to write a rule.
Which standards and identifiers do I need, and which can I ignore Six European standards exist and none is mandatory. Standards New Zealand sells them without adopting them, and no New Zealand source explains them.
Who carries the passport duty, and who keeps the data current The duty sits with the operator that places the product on the EU market, and that is usually your importer. The work still reaches you by contract.
Will New Zealand make its own passport rule Industry has asked for one since 2023 and no minister has proposed one. Two live threads run nearby: product labelling, and a repairability petition.

Reference

Corrections Every correction this site has made to a published fact, in date order, with what was wrong and what a reader could have done with it.
Digital product passport glossary Plain definitions of every term on this site, from adopted to unique product identifier, each one written to be read on its own.
Digital product passport questions and answers Short answers to the questions New Zealand exporters ask about the EU digital product passport. Most answers are no, or not yet.
Every dated milestone for EU digital product passports Every dated milestone in one table, oldest first, and the status of each date. Only the battery and toy dates bind; the rest are plans.
The sources this site uses, and how they rank Every fact here traces to a ranked source, from EU law at the top to industry bodies at the bottom, and six standards stay unread.
What this site does not know The gaps, in one place. What was searched, what came back, and what this site thus refuses to state as fact.