Easily access transparency along the entire value cycle of companies or their products with just a few clicks. The European Commission’s plans for more circularity are ambitious – whether they work depends on the right implementation.

The basis is to find out everything about a product and its background in just a few clicks, including where the product comes from and under what social and ecological conditions it was produced. But also how we can repair or dispose of it or which substances and components are contained. According to the plans of the European Commission, this is to become possible within the framework of a “Digital Product Passport” – DPP for short.  

It is not only for the end consumer that transparency of the entire value chain is becoming increasingly important. Furthermore, according to the new circular economy action plan “New Circular Economy Action Plan”, we need to shift from a waste policy to a product policy. DPP can be a key lever, especially for circular economy tools such as repairing, refurbishing, repurposing, and recycling.

The purpose of the Digital Product Passport is to filter out as few records as possible from as many operators as possible – at business-to-business, business-to-consumer and business-to-government levels. The real challenge is to implement complex data processing and thus identify the “right data” and design the appropriate legal framework.

The stages of the value chain cross national borders and involve different actors. Now the most important thing is to get it right. The Commission is currently exploring different implementation options and has already started a dialogue with different stakeholders. According to the Commission, publication of the Sustainable Product Initiative, which includes the Digital Product Passport, is scheduled for March 2022.