The standards
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.
EN 18222:2026 is the European standard for the application programming interfaces of a digital product passport. The European Commission cited it in July 2026. The standard stays voluntary, and nobody has to build to it.
Its official title also names product passport lifecycle management and searchability. Citation does not make a standard mandatory, and no ecodesign rule yet requires a passport for any product group.
A supplier may tell you that the law forces you to buy the six texts and to build to them this year. If you believe that claim, you pay for a document that no rule makes you use.
The standard is published, cited and sold, and this site has not read it
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Number | EN 18222:2026 |
| Official title | Digital Product Passport - Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for product passport lifecycle management and searchability |
| Published | Late May 2026. The British Standards Institution gives 28 May 2026. |
| Written by | CEN/CLC/JTC 24, secretariat at DIN, the German standards body, under Standardisation Request M/604 |
| Cited by | Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736, in force since 15 July 2026 |
| Price, on the distributor listings | 190 to 370 EUR for one text |
| Read by this site | No |
The committee that wrote it is CEN/CLC/JTC 24. The Commission asked for the work in Standardisation Request M/604. An amendment, M/604_Amd1, followed.
The capitalisation changes between the titles, and that is not an error
The Decision writes the first four titles as "Digital product passport". It writes the title of EN 18222 as "Digital Product Passport", and it does the same for EN 18223.
That split is in the official text. If you compare two sources and see both forms, neither one is a typing error. The table above holds the words of the Decision, and the six standards holds all six titles together.
An application programming interface is how one computer asks another for data
An application programming interface (API) is a defined way for one computer system to ask another computer system for data. The asking system sends a request in a fixed format. The answering system returns an answer in a fixed format.
Both sides agree the format before the first request. That agreement is what makes the answer predictable.
A person does not use an API. A person reads a web page about a merino jumper or an e-bike battery. A customs system or a market surveillance system reads the same facts as structured data, from the same address. The page on how a passport works sets out the steps, and content negotiation explains the two answers.
ESPR Article 14 requires a public portal, and the data sits in many systems
Article 14 of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) requires a publicly accessible web portal. The portal lets stakeholders search and compare passport data. That regulation is Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, and it has been in force since 18 July 2024.
ESPR Article 10(c) requires the economic operator responsible for the creation of the passport to store it. A digital product passport service provider may store it instead. Recital 41 requires a decentralised data system.
So the portal cannot read one European database. It must put the same question to many separate systems, held by many different operators, and get answers it can compare. The portal needs a common way to ask. Search is one of the two subjects in the title of EN 18222.
Two related pages carry the detail: the public portal and the EU registry. The registry became operational in July 2026. No operator must upload to it yet, because no delegated act applies yet.
A battery passport starts, changes and ends
The battery regulation shows this in law that is in force. It is Regulation (EU) 2023/1542. Its Article 77 sets a passport duty from 18 February 2027. Three categories carry that duty:
- each light means of transport (LMT) battery, such as an e-bike battery
- each industrial battery with a capacity greater than 2 kilowatt hours
- each electric vehicle battery
Warning: some guidance calls this a rule for large batteries. That phrase is loose, and it can look like an exemption for your e-bike battery. The Commission web page on digital product passports writes "certain types of batteries, including", and that list is open. Count the three categories instead.
The passport for one of those batteries is not a fixed record. Article 77(8) says the passport "shall cease to exist after the battery has been recycled".
| Article | The rule | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Article 77(1) | Three battery categories each get a passport | Applies from 18 February 2027 |
| Article 77(7) | A repurposed battery needs a new passport | Part of the same Article 77 duty |
| Article 77(8) | The passport ceases to exist after recycling | Part of the same Article 77 duty |
| Article 78(e) | The passport stays available after the operator ceases to exist, or ceases its activity in the Union | Regulation in force |
Read the four rows together. A battery passport has a start, a possible replacement, and an end. Some system has to create it, update it, replace it and end it. The page on lifecycle events covers repair, resale and recycling, and the page on batteries covers the duty itself.
Article 78 governs the battery passport only.
Citation gives a presumption of conformity, not a duty
The legal basis of the Decision is Article 10(6) of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 on European standardisation. The presumption of conformity comes from ESPR Article 41(2). It covers the requirements in ESPR Articles 10 and 11.
The Decision does not mention ESPR Article 9, which is the article that makes a passport a condition of market access. So the presumption covers how a passport is built. It does not decide if your product needs one. See presumption of conformity.
This site does not state what EN 18222 specifies
The text is paywalled, and this site has not bought it. So this site states no requirement, no endpoint, no data field and no search behaviour from EN 18222.
The scope summaries in circulation come from a webinar deck by CEN and CENELEC, the European standards bodies, and not from the standard. A distributor page that describes the standard is promotional copy, and it is not a normative text.
Do not accept a claim about the content of EN 18222 unless the person quotes the purchased text. The page on why the texts are paywalled covers the reason for the cost.
No rule makes you buy EN 18222 this year
Warning: do not buy EN 18222 because a supplier says the law requires it. Check first if a rule covers your product group.
- Find out if a delegated act covers your product group. Today none does.
- If you sell one of the three battery categories, work to 18 February 2027.
- Ask a supplier which of the six standards its product implements, by number.
- Ask a supplier to show you the article of the law behind each claim.
Food and drink products are outside ESPR scope, so no ESPR passport reaches them. See food and feed are excluded. The exclusion covers the product, and not the company. Your packaging is a separate product, and the Packaging Regulation (EU) 2025/40 covers it.
What this means for New Zealand exporters sorts the groups, and how to read the timeline does the arithmetic for each sector.