Does the digital product passport apply to my products?
The passport applies per product group, not automatically to everything
At this moment, the digital product passport does not automatically apply to any product. The ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) does establish a broad scope — the vast majority of physical products placed on or made available on the EU market fall under it in principle — but the actual obligation to maintain a passport, and what exactly must be included in it, is determined separately per product group. This is done through an implementing act that the European Commission establishes for that specific group. As long as such an implementing act does not exist for a product group, there is no passport obligation for products in that group. Article 9 of the ESPR does already describe the general characteristics that a digital product passport must meet once it becomes applicable: this concerns a uniquely identifiable passport per product or product model, linked to a data carrier, with information that must be accessible to different parties in the supply chain.
Physical products fall under the rule; a number of categories are explicitly excluded
The scope of the ESPR, as described in Article 1, focuses on physical goods placed on or made available on the EU market. Services are therefore not covered. Moreover, a number of product categories are explicitly exempted from the regulation as a whole, regardless of which product group implementing act may come later. These include, among others, food and feed, medicines for humans and animals, live plants, animals and micro-organisms, products of human origin, and motor vehicles that already fall under their own type-approval framework. For those categories, different rules apply than the ESPR, and therefore no digital product passport based on this regulation.
For everything not on that exemption list, the following applies: it falls within the scope of the regulation, but that in itself is not yet a passport obligation. That obligation arises only at the moment the Commission establishes a delegated act for the relevant product group — think of textiles, furniture, electronics or batteries. That act then determines, among other things, which data are mandatory, who has access, and from what moment.
No fixed date per product group yet in these articles
Article 1 and Article 9 of the ESPR provide the framework and general requirements, but no entry date for a specific product group. That date is only fixed once the Commission publishes the delegated act for that group; the regulation itself works with work plans indicating which product groups are prioritized and when an act is being prepared. Until such an act exists for a product group, there is no obligation for products in that group to have a digital product passport based on the ESPR. Anyone now falling within such a group therefore has no formal obligation, but does have reason to follow the development of the regulation for that group, because the preparation time for a passport in practice is not short.
How to work this out in practice
The first step is to determine whether the product is a physical good placed on or made available on the EU market, and does not fall under one of the named exemptions such as food, medicines, living organisms or vehicles with their own type-approval. If the product falls outside these, then the ESPR is not the framework to consider anyway.
If the product falls within the scope of the regulation, the next step is to determine whether a delegated act has already been adopted or is in preparation for that specific product group. This happens product group by product group, so the answer for textiles tells you nothing about furniture or electronics. If no act exists yet for your own product group, there is no passport requirement yet, but it may be worthwhile to monitor when that group comes up. If an act does exist, it determines which data are mandatory, who must have access, and from when — that act itself, not article 1 or 9, then provides the concrete content.
Where this follows from: article 1 and article 9 of the ESPR
The scope — which products are and are not covered by the regulation — is set out in article 1 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781). What a digital product passport entails once it applies to a product group is set out in article 9 of that same regulation. The concrete specification for each product group, including when the obligation takes effect, follows from the individual delegated acts that the Commission adopts on the basis of this regulation.
If you want to know whether a specific product will require a passport in the foreseeable future, the best approach is to check whether your own product group appears in the Commission's work programme for delegated acts under the ESPR, and continue to monitor that development until there is clarity about the group in question.
Where this is based on
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR), article 1 (subject matter and scope)
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR), article 9 (digital product passport)
The regulation itself is on EUR-Lex. We provide references for each claim; you do not have to take our word for it.
What you must do concretely
What is expected of you
The ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) is a framework regulation: article 1 establishes that the regulation applies to "products" in general, but the regulation itself does not immediately require a passport for every product placed on the market. This only happens per product group, via a separate decision. For the question "does it apply to my products?" there are therefore actually two steps to distinguish, and both are relevant for a company that carries products in multiple categories.
Establishing whether your product falls within the scope of the ESPR
Article 1 of the ESPR describes the subject and scope of the regulation: physical goods placed on the market in the EU or put into service, with a number of exceptions such as food, animal feed and medicines. For a company with 10 to 100 employees, this means in practice that it is worth examining each product line to see whether or not it falls under an exemption. Anyone in doubt about the precise delimitation will find a more detailed explanation on which products of small and medium-sized enterprises fall under the ESPR. This step alone says nothing about a mandatory passport — that follows from the second step.
Establishing whether a delegated act has already been adopted for your product group
Article 9 of the ESPR provides that the digital product passport becomes mandatory per product group, via delegated acts adopted by the European Commission for each group separately. This means that "the ESPR applies to my product category" is not automatically the same as "I must now create a passport". For a company with multiple product lines, this is a distinction that can prevent confusion: one line may already fall under an established regulation, while another line is waiting for a delegated act that does not yet exist. More information on how those acts are drawn up and why they are decisive can be found on what is a delegated act and why does it determine what I must do. When which product group is scheduled, and at what pace this will happen, can be found on in what order do product groups receive a mandatory passport.
Determining the correct product group(s) for your products
For a manufacturer or importer with a broad range of products, determining the correct product group itself is already a step that requires attention. Some products fall unquestionably into one category, others consist of components that can each have their own passport regulation. If you are looking for guidance here, you can explore the classification via under which product group does my product fall. For products that do not fit neatly into one box, for example a device with an integrated battery or electronics, it is good to know that multiple passport obligations can exist side by side; this is explained on my product falls into multiple product groups — what does that mean.
Where things go wrong in practice
A number of situations regularly come up in the practice of companies with multiple product lines.
A company assumes that because the ESPR applies "to all products", a passport is immediately necessary. The regulation sets the framework, but the actual obligation arises only per product group. If this distinction is not clear, time is spent on a passport for a product line that does not yet have a delegated act, while another line — for which the obligation already applies — is left behind.
Another recurring point is the assumption that smaller companies are exempt. Company size is not an automatic exemption criterion within the ESPR system; this is explained in more detail on does the product passport also apply to small companies. Anyone who concludes on the basis of employee numbers that the obligation will not apply may be in for an unpleasant surprise once the product group is designated.
A third situation: a product consists of an assembly of components, each subject to its own regulation. The textbook example is a product with a battery — the battery is subject to a different regulation than the digital product passport under the ESPR, and the two passports have different scopes and different data. The difference between them is discussed on what is the difference between the battery passport and the digital product passport, and a concrete example of a product with multiple passport obligations is on how many product passports does an e-bike need. Companies that do not make this distinction risk creating one passport when two are actually required — or conversely, doing duplicate work for something that is already covered.
A fourth point is that companies sometimes wait with preparation until the obligation actually comes into effect, and then discover that the data that must be included in the passport cannot simply be retrieved from existing records. Which data exactly this is varies by product group, but an overview of the nature of that data is on which data go into the product passport of products.
A fifth situation is that a company with multiple brands or product lines does not maintain the classification per line centrally, making it difficult to quickly reconstruct during an inspection or customer inquiry which line falls under which regulation and since when.
What you can document
For a company that wants to maintain oversight of multiple product groups, it is practical to document a number of matters in writing, even apart from any legal obligation to do so:
- An overview per product line of the product group in which it falls, with the justification for that classification.
- A note per product line on whether a delegated act for that group has already been adopted, and if not, when it is expected.
- A record of products that fall within multiple product groups or consist of components with their own passport regulation, such as an integrated battery.
- A list of the data that must be included in the passport per product group, and where those data come from within the organization.
- Agreements on who within the organization is responsible for monitoring new delegated acts relevant to your own assortment.
If you have not yet clarified this classification, you can review the basics as a starting point on what is a digital product passport for products and review the broader implications for your sector via what is changing for small and medium-sized enterprises under the ESPR.
This is not legal advice. This page provides general information about the regulations that this platform concerns. We do not know your situation. If you are in doubt about your own case, consult a lawyer or the competent supervisory authority.
Written with AI on the basis of the sources above, checked by a human on 2026-08-22. Is something incorrect? Let us know — corrections are given priority.