Is it wise to start before my product category is due?

Starting early can make sense, but it is not mandatory

Starting before your own product group is up for consideration is not required anywhere — but for many manufacturers and importers it is a practical choice to begin preparations in advance. The ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) sets out the digital product passport obligation on a product-group-by-product-group basis: only when a product group is included in a delegated act that establishes specific requirements does the actual obligation arise. Until then, no passport requirement applies to that group. This does not mean that waiting is always the most convenient route. Gathering product data, requesting information from suppliers, and setting up internal processes often takes more time than the period between the announcement of an obligation and when it takes effect. Organisations that only start once the requirements are concrete risk coming under time pressure for work that in principle could have been spread out calmly.

For whom this is relevant, and for whom it is not

Starting early is particularly relevant for manufacturers and importers active in multiple product groups, or who are dealing with long and fragmented supply chains where data must come from different parties. For them, it is worthwhile to map out in advance which information is already available and where there are gaps, regardless of when their own product group comes up for consideration. For businesses with a single straightforward product and a clear supply chain, whose product group moreover has not yet been mentioned anywhere in the planning, the pressure to start now is less. It is also important what starting early does not deliver: the substantive requirements — which data exactly must be in the passport, in which format, with which carrier — are set per product group. Anyone who now tries to compile a passport without those requirements being known risks doing work that will have to be adjusted later.

When a product group comes up for consideration, not everything is yet determined

Which product groups will be subject to requirements and when follows from the work plan that the Commission draws up on the basis of Article 18 of the ESPR. That work plan contains a prioritisation: product groups are selected and ranked on the basis of criteria such as environmental impact and sales volume. This prioritisation is not yet fixed for all product groups, and for product groups not yet mentioned in a work plan or delegated act, there is therefore no concrete date to work towards. What is established is the system: no obligation without a product-group-specific delegated act, and that act follows on from the prioritisation in the work plan. For anyone who wants to know whether their own product group will be coming up for consideration soon, consulting the current work plan is the appropriate step — providing an estimate without that source is not worthwhile, because the planning can shift for each product group.

What this means, step by step

The first step is to check whether your own product category is already mentioned in the work plan under Article 18, and if so, in which priority round. This gives an indication of the sequence, even though a fixed deadline is not yet determined by this planning. Regardless of that schedule, it is worthwhile to inventory in advance which product data are already available internally and which still need to be obtained from suppliers or other links in the chain — that kind of work is useful regardless of when the obligation comes into force, and saves time once the requirements become concrete. For smaller companies, it is worth looking at the supporting measures that the ESPR mentions for SMEs in Article 22; these can carry weight in deciding whether, and at what pace, to make an early start. Finally, it is prudent to bear in mind that data collected early may need to be adjusted once the final requirements for each product category are known — starting early saves time, but is no guarantee that the work remains unchanged and usable.

What this is based on: Article 18 and Article 22 ESPR

Article 18 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) provides that the Commission shall draw up a work plan in which product categories are prioritised and ordered on the basis of established criteria. This work plan forms the basis for the subsequent delegated acts in which the actual requirements for each product category — including the digital product passport obligation — are established. Article 22 of the same regulation describes the supporting measures available to small and medium-sized enterprises in complying with the ESPR.

Those wishing to know where their product category stands in this planning can consult the current work plan via the official source. Regardless of that planning, it is worthwhile to start mapping available product data and requesting missing information from suppliers — that work does not have to wait for a final date and is the basis with which prodpas.eu compiles a passport once that becomes relevant for a product category.