A Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a digital label (usually linked to a QR code or NFC tag on the product) that shows what something is made of, where it comes from, and how it was made. Starting in 2026, ESPR compliance will require DPPs for products sold in the EU: textiles, steel, furniture, and chemicals come first, with more categories to follow. This guide walks through the six steps to create a Digital Product Passport, from choosing a platform to launching your first pilot.
Who This Guide Is For
This guide is written for:
- Manufacturers placing goods on the EU market
- Importers and EU-based authorised representatives
- Private label brands sourcing from third-party factories
- Suppliers selling into European retailers that require DPP documentation
What Data Goes Into a Digital Product Passport?
A DPP is not a single document — it’s a structured set of fields describing a product’s identity, composition, journey, and end-of-life. At minimum, you’ll need:
- Product identification: unique serial number, GTIN/EAN, model and reference codes
- Material composition: metals, fabrics, polymers with percentages and origin; hallmarks where applicable
- Supply chain traceability: tier-1 and tier-2 suppliers; country of origin; chain-of-custody for regulated materials (LBMA, Kimberley, RJC)
- Sustainability metrics: carbon footprint, water footprint, recycled content, energy consumption, durability and repairability
- Certifications: RJC, Fairmined, GOTS, OEKO-TEX, EU Ecolabel, or category-specific schemes
- End-of-life instructions: disassembly guides, recycling routes, hazardous substance flags
- Regulatory metadata: which ESPR delegated act applies
Exact fields depend on product category.
How to Create a Digital Product Passport in 6 Steps
Step 1: Choose a Digital Product Passport platform
DPP creation combines technical, regulatory, and supplier-coordination complexity. Most teams use DPP software rather than build in-house — a good platform aligns with EU regulatory updates, stores data securely with version history, and outputs machine-readable records via QR, barcode, or NFC.
Step 2: Collect supplier data
The hardest part of any DPP project is supplier data collection. Your platform should handle bill-of-material declarations, reminders and dashboards, input validation, and multi-language supplier portals — because suppliers in Asia, Turkey, or small EU workshops rarely use your ERP.
Step 3: Fill in core product data
Map supplier data to the DPP schema for your category. This usually means aligning your product ERP/PIM systems with the regulatory data model. Bulk Imports functionalities and AI-assisted import reads existing spreadsheets and auto-fills fields, saving weeks of manual entry.
Step 4: Add sustainability and lifecycle information
Pull in carbon footprint, recycled content, repairability scores, and end-of-life instructions. If you already report under CSRD or use LCA tools, most of this data exists — the DPP surfaces it at product level rather than company level.
Step 5: Generate the Digital Passport
With data complete, the platform generates the DPP and assigns each unit a QR code passport — a permanent link (usually GS1 Digital Link) that customers, regulators, and recyclers can resolve. Integrate the QR or NFC credential into your labelling, packaging, or engraving workflow.
Step 6: Keep your DPP up to date
A DPP is not “publish and forget.” Ownership transfers, service records, renewed certifications, and sustainability updates feed back into the record across the product’s life. This is where a digital passport platform pays back: automated sync replaces manual updates across thousands of records as suppliers change and regulations evolve.
Common Challenges When Building DPPs
Most DPP projects hit the same obstacles:
- Supplier data gaps. Small or overseas suppliers rarely prioritise ESG requests from one customer among hundreds. Mobile-first, multi-language portals with automated reminders materially shift response rates.
- Spreadsheet conflicts. Procurement, quality, and sustainability teams often maintain overlapping product sheets with conflicting values. A DPP exposes those gaps — the clean-up is unavoidable but worth doing once.
- No clear ownership of data. Whose job is it to keep the DPP current? Without a named owner — usually quality or sustainability — DPPs go stale within a quarter. Assign the role and budget the hours before launch, not after.
How Long Does It Take and What Does It Cost?
Timeline. Many companies can launch an initial pilot of 50–100 products in 4 to 8 weeks, depending on data readiness. Teams with clean product master data in an ERP or PLM move faster; those starting from paper certificates and mixed spreadsheets typically need 8–12 weeks for the first batch. After the first hundred, subsequent products scale quickly because the data models and supplier relationships are already in place.
Cost drivers. DPP platforms are typically priced through annual subscriptions or pilot packages, depending on SKU volume, supplier seats, and compliance scope. For SMEs launching a first Digital Product Passport pilot (around 500–1,000 SKUs), realistic market budgets often start around €4,500 and commonly range up to €12,000, especially when onboarding support, supplier engagement, training, and data-readiness assessment are included. More complex multi-brand or multi-country rollouts can exceed this range. Multi-compliance coverage (ESPR plus CSRD plus EUDR) on one platform is more economical than three siloed tools.
Platform vs In-House: What to Weigh
| Criteria | In-house build | Generic software | Dedicated DPP platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time to first DPP | 6–12 months | 2–4 months | 4–8 weeks |
| EU compliance alignment | Build yourself | Partial, needs configuration | Aligned with ESPR, CSRD, EUDR |
| Supplier onboarding | Build yourself | Manual spreadsheet flows | Collaborative portal |
| Updates for regulation changes | Internal dev team | Vendor-dependent | Included in service |
| Initial investment | High | Medium | Low–medium |
Dedicated platforms absorb regulatory change as a service — Deply, for example, is built specifically for DPP workflows and covers ESPR, CSRD, EPREL, EUDR, and VSME from one product record.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will Digital Product Passports become mandatory under ESPR?
ESPR (EU 2024/1781) rolls out through category-specific delegated acts in 2026–2027. First priority sectors are textiles, iron and steel, aluminum, furniture, tires, chemicals, detergents, and paints. Textiles come first — large companies must stop destroying unsold textiles from July 19, 2026. Other categories including cosmetics, footwear, and jewellery follow in subsequent acts.
Can I use my existing product data from ERP/PLM/Data Folders for the DPP?
Yes, this is the most cost-effective path. Most DPP platforms provide connectors for SAP S/4HANA, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, plus a REST API. Product master, BOMs, supplier records, and certifications sync directly. You don’t migrate your ERP, the DPP platform extracts only the fields needed for regulatory output.
What’s the difference between a DPP and a QR code on a product page?
A marketing QR points to a web page you control — you can change or remove it at will. A Digital Product Passport is a structured, regulator-accessible, version-controlled record. The QR is just the access method; the passport is the data layer behind it, designed to survive ownership transfers, decades of product life, and regulatory audits.
Ready to create your first Digital Product Passports?
See how Deply helps brands and manufacturers launch DPPs in 4–8 weeks. Book a demo.
