How to Get Ready for the Digital Product Passport (DPP) | Plytix

The best time to start preparing for the DPP was yesterday. The second-best time? Today. 

If you’ve only just started thinking about the Digital Product Passport (DPP), I hate to break it to you, but you might already be behind. Industry leader BMW started working on its battery passports in 2017, and its deadline is February 2027.

We don’t have final dates for other industries yet, but the European Commission expects priority product categories—like textiles, construction, and iron and steel products—to have a digital product passport by 2030. So yes, now’s the time to get ready.

But how do you prepare for something that’s still being finalized?

Good question. It’s true—we don’t have every last detail. But we do have a pretty solid idea of what’s coming. 

We know that if you’re selling physical products (apart from food, feed, and medical products) in the European market, you’ll eventually need a DPP and the kind of data your product’s digital twin will likely need.  So, let’s focus on what we know and how you can start getting ready for DPP implementation.

First things first—what is the DPP?

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A digital product passport is a tool for collecting and sharing product data across its entire lifecycle. In the same way that your passport tracks where you’ve traveled, the DPP tracks your product’s journey from raw materials to the end-of-life. 

Each passport will be accessible via a data carrier like a QR code, RFID tag, or NFC chip attached to the product. These passports will give access to details such as:

• Product’s origin 
• Product’s composition
• Product sustainability info
• Recycling inductions and how to care for and dispose of the product

The aim? To make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by promoting circularity and enhancing transparency—without adding more red tape.

As Dr. Amaryllis Verhoeven of the European Commission, who came up with the idea of the Digital Product Passport, said at the Battery Pass Consortium closing event:

“The digital product passport is about digitalization, and digitalization is a tool to achieve more efficiency. There’s a lot of talk in Europe about the need to cut red tape and reduce administrative burdens. That’s what the DPP does. Yes, it comes at an initial cost to digitize data—but then the same data can be reused over and over again, in all the reports you have to do, for all compliance checks and so on.”

Want the full scoop on what the DPP is, why it matters, and how it can actually help your business? Have a look at our DPP ebook, which breaks it all down. 

Now, let's dive into how you can start getting ready for the digital product passport:

Step 1: Understand the legal landscape

The European Union is on a mission to build a more sustainable and circular economy. That means changing the way products are designed, made, sold, and disposed of through product-specific and sustainability regulations.

If you manufacture or sell products in the European Union, chances are that at least one of the new regulations will apply to you. So, the first step is to get familiar with upcoming regulations and understand what they mean for your business.

The one at the center of it all? The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR).

The ESPR will make digital product passports mandatory for around 30 product groups. Its first official work plan is expected in spring 2025. That will bring more details about digital product passport requirements and timeliness for industries like textiles, furniture, plastics, and electronics.

Other connected regulations include:

• The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles
• Construction Products Regulation (CPR)
• Toy Safety Regulation
• Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)
• Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA)
• Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)
  

These are constantly evolving, so keeping up is part of the job. The best way? Bookmark the European Commission’s updates, or check out CIRPASS-2—an EU-funded project where Plytix is part of the expert group, helping shape DPP pilots.

And if you’d rather skip the legal lingo and stay in the loop the easy way, just sign up for our newsletter. We’ll send you the important stuff. 

Step 2: Build your DPP strategy

Once you’ve wrapped your head around the regulations, it’s time to build a plan for digital product passport implementation. Here are a few key questions to guide your strategy:

• What will the DPP look like for us?
• Which data carrier makes sense?
• What data do we already have—and what’s missing?
• Who will we need to collaborate with?
• What budget do we need?
• What’s our timeline?

This isn’t a complete list—they’re just some questions to get the wheels turning. What you’ll need to plan for depends on your company’s size, your industry, and how complex your supply chain is.

That said, one thing everyone should focus on is setting realistic goals and timelines that align with upcoming regulations. And heads up—DPP compliance can get complicated fast, so make sure you have a strategic and proactive approach and don’t leave it to the last minute.

Step 3: Get everyone on board

DPPs aren’t a solo mission. You’ll need support from your team and external partners alike.

Start with your internal team

Get the right people in the loop early on. Implementing DPPs is a cross-team effort, and you’ll need input from multiple departments, such as:

• IT (to handle the tech and infrastructure)
• Product and supply chain (for material data, certifications, and traceability)
• Legal and compliance (to track digital product passport regulations)
• Marketing (to communicate value and enhance customer engagement)
• ESG and leadership (to align with larger sustainability goals)

Reach out to your external partners

Value chain stakeholders aren’t used to sharing the level of details you’ll need for DPP implementation, so it’s key to start conversations early with:

• Manufacturers
• Suppliers
• Logistics partners
• Retailers

Bring them on your journey from day one: ask them about their DPP strategy, what data they can already provide, and where you can help each other with your implementation process… they might have valuable insights. 

Some partners—especially those outside the EU—may not be familiar with DPP requirements, so show them why the DPP matters and how the data they’ll give you will be used. The sooner you connect, the better.

Step 4: Assess where you stand

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As Dr. Amaryllis Verhoeve said, the DPP wasn’t designed to create more red tape but instead to cut it. The idea of the DPP is to digitalize the data you already have and put it all in one place.

Exactly what data you’ll need to include will depend on your product category and will be laid out in delegated acts. But we already have a good idea of what will likely be required, and the good news is that you probably already have a lot of it.

So start by evaluating what you already have and how you can get the details you are missing. 

Here are some of the typical DPP data points:

Getting a clear picture of your current data landscape will help you understand where the gaps are—and what steps you need to take to fill them.

Step 5: Organize your data

Now that you know what you have (and what you don’t), it’s time to get organized. Your DPP data should be:

• Centralized—Store everything in one place. Having all your DPP data in one hub will make it easier to keep track of what data you have and what you are missing.
• Structured—Sort data into logical categories like materials, technical specs, or environmental impact (use the table above as a reference point) so different teams can easily find what they’re looking for.
• Standardized—Use consistent formats to make sure you have accurate product data—no mixing kg and lbs or date styles.
• Tracked—Keep a record of who made changes and when. That way, if something looks off, you’ll know where to go for answers.
• Run regular audits—Make data checks part of your routine. Fix inconsistencies, clean up duplicates, and make sure everything stays accurate. If your data isn’t accurate and up to date, it could lead to regulatory compliance issues—including fines or being pulled from the EU market.

Step 6: Start collecting missing data

Now is the time to go after the data you're missing, and this is where your supply chain management comes in. You’ll likely need additional sustainability data or technical specs from your suppliers.

Here’s how to approach it:

• Start the conversation early—Get in touch with your suppliers and let them know what’s coming and why it matters.
• Use templates—clearly define what info you need and how it should be submitted.
• Set guidelines—Be specific about formats, units of measurement, and how the data should be submitted.
• Update contracts—Start including data collection clauses that outline what product and material info you’ll need from them. This is particularly important if you're working with international manufacturers or suppliers.
• Look into systems that help automate data collection—An automated system like Plytix PIM (with API integration) will make this process faster and will reduce the risk of manual errors. 

Step 7: Use the right tools

Trying to manage DPP data manually? It’s doable…but it’s going to be messy, time-consuming, and honestly, not worth the hassle.  

You need a system that can handle the product data you already have, the detailed data you still need to collect, and anything new that comes with future digital product passport regulations.

A scalable Product Information Management (PIM) system with an integrated DAM (Digital Asset Management) is worth considering. In case you're not familiar with it, a PIM is a central hub where you store, manage, and update all your product data. Pair it with a DAM, and you've got one place for everything from specs to images. On top of that, it lets you automate data exchange with other systems and supply chain partners.

Why scalable?

Because DPP requirements will continue to evolve as new delegated acts are passed. You need a system that can grow with you. The last thing you want is to get stuck with a tool that can’t handle more data attributes down the line.

Why a PIM with a DAM?

Because you’re not just managing text and numbers. You’ll need to store digital assets like user manuals and certificates (PDFs), product images (JPEG/PNG), and maybe even repair videos.

Here’s how Plytix helps you get DPP-ready:

Centralize your DPP data
Keep all your DPP data in one place—so you always know where it’s stored and can stay compliant.

Work better across teams
With unlimited users, access permissions, and tracked changes, it’s easy for multiple departments to collaborate without stepping on each other’s toes.

Automate updates
Essential for compliance, as DPP regulations say that your data must be up-to-date. 

Flag missing data
With the completeness tracking feature, you can easily spot what data you’re missing— you get a complete picture of where you’re at in your DPP journey. 

Support multiple languages
The DPP will require multilingual data, and Plytix can handle that, too.

Integrate with your stack
You can connect Plytix with your ERP, PLM, and other tools to automatically transfer and sync your product information—no silos, no manual error.

But that’s just managing the data. Plytix also helps you collect data from your suppliers.

You can:

• Set up automated API flows for direct input
• Import large data sets via CSV files (great when you’re starting and need to collect a lot of data from your supplier or in case they don’t have fancy tech)
• You can create a dedicated supplier account linked to your main PIM so that suppliers can upload data directly to your PIM. And don’t worry; they’ll only be able to view and edit the data for which they’re responsible.  

Start early. Get organized. Stay ahead.

Navigating the DPP regulatory landscape is hard; data management and collecting data don’t have to be! And yes, investing in a PIM will mean an initial investment, but it will pay off. 

With the right tools, a solid plan, and strong collaboration across your entire supply chain, digital product passport compliance will not be a major challenge.   

Start early. Get your data in shape. Use technology that’s built to handle what’s coming because the DPP is an opportunity for you to build a more transparent and future-ready business. And that’s something worth investing in!