When does the product passport become mandatory for products?

What you must do concretely

What is expected of you

The ESPR itself (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) does not set a date on which the digital product passport becomes mandatory for all products. The regulation is a framework law: it regulates how the obligation arises per product group, not when it applies to a specific product. That "when" is determined separately for each product group, via a delegated act. As long as no such act exists for a product group, no passport obligation yet applies to those products.

The Commission draws up a work programme

Article 18 of the ESPR requires the European Commission to create a work programme stating which product groups receive priority and in what order they will be addressed. For a company, this means primarily that the first, most reliable information on "when is my product group's turn" comes from this work programme, not from the regulation itself. A company with 10 to 100 employees that supplies products in multiple categories — think of an importer of both electronics and furniture — would do well to follow the work programme per product group separately, because one can be many years ahead of the other. More information on how that order is determined can be found in in what order product groups receive a mandatory passport.

A delegated act is adopted per product group

The actual obligation — including a concrete entry into force date for that product group — arises through a delegated act adopted by the Commission on the basis of the power in Article 4 of the ESPR. Article 8 sets out what such an act must contain: including the ecological requirements, which data must be included in the passport and from when the passport is mandatory for that product group. In practical terms, this means that a company cannot rely on one central entry into force date, but must check per product group whether and when a delegated act is already in place. What a delegated act is exactly and why it determines so much is explained on what is a delegated act and why does it determine what I must do.

Determining whether your own products already fall under an act

For a company with a diverse range of products, this is often the most work: not just one check, but per product group. Textiles, furniture, electronics and construction materials, for example, are not in the same phase of the process and do not receive a delegated act at the same time. A company of modest size selling in two or three of these categories runs the risk of following one product group well and missing another. An overview of what changes specifically for SMEs can be found on what is changing for small and medium-sized enterprises under the ESPR.

Preparing before the obligation takes effect

Even if the exact date is not yet fixed, the data that will eventually have to be included in a passport — origin, materials, repair data, and the like — are often already recorded for longer, or not centrally recorded anywhere. Companies that only start collecting once the delegated act is in place fall behind the facts. In practical terms, this means that determining which data become relevant does not need to wait for the exact entry into force date. See which data will be included in the digital product passport of products.

Where things go wrong in practice

An importer thinks there is one EU-wide date. Because the ESPR itself does not mention a year, some companies assume that there is somewhere one central entry into force date for "the digital product passport". That date does not exist — it only exists per product group, set out in a delegated act that may not even exist yet for that group.

A company follows only the product group it knows best. In companies with multiple product lines, often only the most visible or largest product group is followed, while a smaller secondary line turns out to fall under an earlier delegated act. Particularly relevant when a product actually belongs in multiple categories, as described on my product falls into multiple groups — what does that mean.

Companies expect the work programme to provide a guarantee. The work plan from Article 18 provides a prioritization, not a firm commitment regarding an exact date for a specific product category. Companies that consider a date from a draft work plan as definitive may be disappointed if the actual delegated act comes later or sets different requirements.

Small companies think they will be spared. It is often assumed that the digital product passport applies only to large manufacturers. Whether and how a smaller company is affected depends on the product category and not on company size — see does the product passport also apply to small companies.

Preparation is postponed until the act is definitive. Once a delegated act for a product category is adopted, the period to get data in order is often shorter than expected. Companies that wait to set up their data collection until the text is definitive start that catch-up effort only when other companies in the sector are already underway.

What you can document

• An overview of the own product categories, with per category a reference to where it appears in the Commission's work plan.
• The most recently consulted version of the work plan (Article 18, ESPR) and the date it was checked, so that the timeliness of the information is clear.
• For each product category that already has a delegated act: the location of that act and the entry into force date mentioned in it.
• A list of data that is already available now (materials, origin, repair information) versus data that still needs to be collected, so that preparation does not stall while waiting for a definitive date.
• A check whether the own product possibly falls into multiple product categories, with the corresponding implications for timing and data — starting with does the digital product passport apply to my products.
• A contact moment or regular periodic check (for example every quarter) to verify whether new delegated acts have been published for the relevant product categories.