What happens if I don't have a digital product passport for my products?
Without a passport, the product does not meet the requirements
When an obligation to have a digital product passport applies to a product category, and that passport is missing, the product does not meet what is required for that category. This is not without consequences: market surveillance authorities can check this and take action under Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, the regulation that governs how compliance with product rules is monitored in practice. They can, for example, ask for the product to be brought into compliance, restrict or stop its supply, or order a recall of products already in the hands of a trader or customer. Which measure applies in a specific case, and whether a surveillance authority actually intervenes, is for that authority to decide — this is not fixed and cannot therefore be predicted in general terms. What is certain: the absence of a mandatory passport is a deficiency that falls within the scope of market surveillance, in the same way as other forms of non-compliance with product rules.
Which products this applies and does not apply to
These consequences apply only to product categories for which the passport obligation has actually taken effect. The ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) is the framework regulation; for each product category, a separate delegated act specifies whether, and from when, a passport is mandatory. For a product category without such an act, there is no passport obligation yet, and therefore also not the consequence stated above. Regulation 2019/1020 itself is broader: it governs market surveillance for a large part of EU product legislation, not only for products with a passport obligation. The passport is therefore one of the matters that can be subject to surveillance, but not the only one.
A separate situation is that of Article 40 of the ESPR, on preventing circumvention. That article does not address the simple absence of a passport, but cases in which there is an attempt to circumvent the requirements — for example, by using software to change a product's performance so that it just falls outside the requirements, while in practice the product should be covered by the regulation. This is therefore a different situation from a passport that is not yet in place because preparation is still ongoing.
The date is fixed per product category
There is no general date on which the passport obligation comes into effect for all products at the same time. That date is determined per product category in the corresponding delegated act under the ESPR. For product categories for which no delegated act has yet been adopted, no date is therefore fixed — and that is currently the situation for some product categories. Until the date for a product category is fixed and arrives, the existing rules for that product remain in force, such as the conformity requirements that applied before the ESPR came into being. Anyone who wants to know whether, and from when, a specific product category is to be covered will find that in the delegated act for that category — not in the ESPR as a whole.
What this means in practice
First, it is relevant to establish whether a passport obligation already applies to your own product category, and if so, from when — that is stated in the delegated act for that category, not in a general list of dates. If there is no obligation yet, there is also no acute risk of the measures described above, but that can change as soon as the act comes into force. If the obligation already applies, then the relevant question is whether the passport actually exists, is complete, and is accessible via the QR code on the product — a passport that exists but is not findable or incomplete does not solve the underlying problem. After that, it is a matter of getting things in order: collecting the necessary data, having the passport compiled and hosted, and having the data carrier applied to the product before it is offered or sold. Anyone who waits until a supervisory authority asks about it themselves is behind the facts; anyone who has everything in order before the obligation comes into force does not need to worry about it.
Market surveillance and circumvention as a legal basis
That market surveillance authorities can intervene in case of non-compliance with product rules follows from Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, which regulates how product conformity supervision is organized within the EU. That specifically attempting to circumvent requirements is separately identified and prevented follows from Article 40 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781). For the question of when a passport for a specific product category becomes mandatory, the delegated act for that category is the source — which falls outside what has been covered here, but can be found via the official EU legislation for that product category.
Anyone who wants to know whether a passport obligation already applies to their own product category should check the delegated act for that category. If it does not yet exist, there is time to get the data and process in order — so that the passport is ready for the moment when the obligation does come into force, rather than only after that.
Where this is based on
- Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 (market surveillance and product compliance)
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR), Article 40 (prevention of circumvention and deterioration of performance)
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
A product passport, once it becomes mandatory for a product category, is part of the conditions that a product must meet in order to be placed on or remain on the EU market. Doing nothing means leaving a number of obligations unfulfilled that are not separate from one another — they interlock, and the absence of one often makes the other apparent.
Placing the product on the market without a passport
For the product categories for which the passport becomes mandatory, the passport is part of the product's other conformity documentation. A company with 10 to 100 employees that stocks a new batch or fulfils a new order without the passport being ready is thereby placing products on the market that do not meet the applicable conditions. This is not a matter of "sorting it out later" — the market surveillance authority assesses at the moment of inspection, not at the moment the company planned to do something.
Providing access to passport data
Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 gives market surveillance authorities the power to request documentation and information about a product from the market participant responsible for it. For a company, this means it is not only about having a passport, but also about being able to show who is responsible for what. This overlaps with the question who is responsible for the product passport of products — a question that becomes relevant as soon as a supervisor is at the door and not the company itself, but the answer to it should have been ready long ago.
Providing complete and correct information
A passport with missing or incorrect fields is often harder to defend in practice than no passport at all — it gives the impression that attention has been paid to it, but not sufficiently. For companies that work with private labels or sell under their own brand, this is an area where risk concentrates: the question who is liable if there is incorrect data in the product passport is then not a matter of theory, but at the first spot check.
Not circumventing the obligation
Article 40 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) is aimed at preventing circumvention and deterioration of performance that has been established to meet the requirements. For a company, this means that a passport cannot simply exist on paper while the practice — an updated QR code, a passport that is not updated when the product is processed or modified — does not match it. This particularly affects companies that have products adapted, combined or resold under a different name.
Where things go wrong in practice
The order has already left before the passport is ready. Production and logistics run at their own pace; the passport is seen as something that "still needs to be added", while the shipment is already with the customer. At the moment of an inspection, there is no passport, while the product is already on the market.
Nobody within the company knows who maintains the passport. In companies where procurement, quality and marketing operate separately, the impression arises that "someone else will handle this". Often this is related to the question whether someone is an importer or manufacturer according to the ESPR — without a clear answer to this, responsibility falls between the cracks.
The manufacturer is outside the EU and does not provide the data. An importer placing products from outside the EU on the market often discovers too late that the manufacturer does not provide passport data, or that data arrives incomplete or in a different language. This is precisely the scenario in which the question who arranges the product passport if the manufacturer is outside the European Union becomes urgent — usually only after the first batch has already been shipped.
A distributor or marketplace seller assumes that the passport has already been arranged. Anyone reselling products without being a manufacturer or importer themselves often assumes that the responsibility for this has already been handled. This does not always align with the obligations that apply to a distributor or trader, and certainly not in relation to what is expected of those selling via an online marketplace.
A product modification is not implemented in the passport. An adjustment to material, composition or origin is recorded in the production process, but not transferred to the passport that is already online. This is precisely the type of situation that Article 40 of the ESPR addresses: the passport remains in existence, but no longer corresponds to the product as it actually is on the market.
What you can document
- An overview of which product groups within the company are subject to the passport obligation, and per group whether the company acts as manufacturer, importer or distributor — see also whether the digital product passport applies to the company's own products.
- An internal agreement on who creates the passport, who verifies the data, and who is responsible for updating it when the product changes.
- A fixed procedure for the moment when an order is only delivered after the passport is active and linked to the QR data carrier.
- Agreements with the manufacturer or supplier on the timing and format in which passport data are provided, particularly when that supplier is located outside the EU.
- A file containing the substantiation of the data in the passport, so that in the event of a query from a market surveillance authority it can quickly be demonstrated where information comes from.
- For private label or own brand: a written agreement with the manufacturer on who fills in and maintains which part of the passport — relevant in selling under own brand and in the responsibility for private label products.
- A fixed check in case of merger, acquisition or business sale, so that the passport and the associated responsibility do not inadvertently remain suspended between two entities.
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.