Does the product passport also apply to small businesses?

What you must do concretely

What is expected of you

Know whether your products fall under a delegated act

The ESPR itself imposes no obligations directly: the obligation arises per product group via a delegated act, as explained in what a delegated act is and why it determines what you must do. For a company with 10 to 100 employees, this means the first step is always: find out whether your own product is already covered by such a scheme, or is still to come. This can be looked up via the order in which product groups are prioritised. A small business has no separate procedure or postponement based on size; the delegated act itself sets the date, for everyone placing that product on the market.

Check whether mitigating measures apply for small and medium-sized enterprises

Article 22 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) specifically mentions that account shall be taken of the position of small and medium-sized enterprises in implementing the regulation. This article provides no general exemption, but points out that tools and measures can be developed to support smaller businesses in complying with the requirements laid down per product group. In practice, this means that a concrete lighter obligation, longer deadline or simplified procedure for a small business only becomes visible in the delegated act of the relevant product group itself — not in the ESPR as a whole. Whoever manufactures an e-bike, textile product or other article is therefore well advised to consult the specific rules for that product group at the moment they are issued.

Determine what role you play in the supply chain

A small business that manufactures itself has a different position than a small business that imports or only assembles. The obligations arising from a delegated act are assigned to manufacturers, importers and sometimes other economic operators, and this distinction carries through to who must provide the data and who is responsible for its accuracy. For the question of whether a specific product falls under the scheme at all, does the digital product passport apply to my products is a good starting point, and for the product groups specifically relevant to SMEs, there is which products of small and medium-sized enterprises fall under the ESPR.

Take into account products in multiple product groups

Small businesses often make composite products, such as an e-bike with a battery, textiles with electronic components, or furniture with metal fasteners. When a product falls under multiple delegated acts, it may require multiple passports or a combination of requirements. This is set out in what it means if a product falls into multiple product groups, with as a concrete example how many digital product passports an e-bike needs. The size of the business does not change the number of passports a composite product needs; that question concerns the product, not the manufacturer.

Where things go wrong in practice

A common situation is that a small business assumes the ESPR is "for the big players" and only discovers late that its own product group has already received a delegated act. Because the obligation arises per product group and not per business size, there is no automatic notification to alert a small business.

A second situation is that a search is made for "the SME exemption" in the ESPR text itself, whereas Article 22 only speaks about taking account of small and medium-sized enterprises in implementation — no fixed exemption or threshold. Those looking for a concrete lighter regime will find it (if it exists) in the delegated act of their own product group, not in the ESPR.

A third situation arises with businesses that act as importers and believe the obligation rests only on the manufacturer in the country of origin. The role distribution in the supply chain determines who must provide which data, and an importer from outside the EU may themselves incur responsibilities that do not automatically rest with the original manufacturer.

A fourth situation is when a small company with a composite product — for instance, with a built-in battery — assumes that one passport for the entire product is sufficient, while the battery falls under its own regulation. The distinction in this regard is described in the difference between the battery passport and the digital product passport.

A fifth situation is postponement: because the company's own product category does not yet have a delegated act, preparation is completely stalled. When that act does come, the time to gather data, set up systems, and consult suppliers is often shorter than expected — especially for a small company without a separate compliance department.

What you can document

• An overview of the company's own product categories, with a check of whether and when a delegated act applies or is expected for them — traceable via when the product passport becomes mandatory for products and which product group a product falls under.
• A description of the company's own role in the supply chain per product: manufacturer, importer, or another market participant, with the corresponding responsibilities as they follow from the relevant delegated act.
• A list of products that may fall into multiple product categories, with a note on which components (such as a battery) may have their own regulation.
• An overview of the data that is already available per product versus the data that still needs to be requested from suppliers, in line with what data comes into the passport of products.
• A brief note on what Article 22 of the ESPR specifically means for the company, once the relevant delegated act is known — so that it is clear whether and what support or adapted requirement for smaller companies is included in it.
• A timeline per product category, linked to the broader changes that what the ESPR changes for small and medium-sized enterprises are described, so that preparation does not only begin when the obligation already applies.