In 2024, the European Union began implementing a regulation requiring all new products to have a Digital Product Passport (DPP). The regulation is designed to improve transparency and traceability around products to better understand and manage their environmental impact.
The new regulation, which comes under the EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation but will likely also fall under UNECE and ISO standards in the future, will affect all physical products on the EU market.
It is essential that product manufacturers, suppliers and owners understand the implications of the DPP and prepare ahead to ensure they can continue operations.
A Digital Product Passport (DPP) is the product’s “digital twin” — a cloud-based record that follows each item from manufacture to disposal, capturing its materials, compliance files, maintenance history and end-of-life instructions.
The Digital Product Passport is a digital record that follows the product throughout its lifecycle and should be kept updated. It should be easily accessible to anyone who needs it, such as the product owner and users, and should be stored until the product is scrapped.
These requirements have not yet been confirmed by the EU and will vary dependent on the type of product and its uses.
Digital Product Passports (DPPs) will roll out in stages over the next five years: first requirements are pencilled in for 2026 on batteries and other energy-intensive industrial products, with additional categories added each year until every item sold in the EU must carry a DPP by 2030.
The Digital Product Passport (DPP) will be important for anyone that supplies, sells or owns any type of physical product in the EU market.
Examples include:
Suppliers and sellers of physical products will need to ensure that digital documentation is provided to customers. This will include information on the origins of the product, its history and any required documentation such as declarations of conformity or use guides. This information must be accessible to customers and be possible to update over the product’s lifecycle.
Product owners will need to think about how to store this digital twin. Information will need to be readily available for users and any relevant bodies that may need to review it, such as health and safety inspectors.
In the future it is likely that product suppliers and owners across the globe will need to think about DPPs as they are adopted by bodies such as the UNECE and ISO which aim to implement global DPP standards.
The DPP will be the final result of what has been a gradual move towards digital working for equipment managers. By 2027, documentation for work equipment and machinery will need to be available digitally under the EU Machinery Regulation. This is a major update from previous practices which were paper heavy and relied on physical copies of documents such as use guides.
Digital working means that equipment owners will need to prepare to manage a large amount of digital documentation. They will also need to have a digital record of the equipment’s history such as maintenance and inspections. While there are already requirements under national regulations and standards to maintain such records in physical form, digital equipment compliance management will be new to many.
This shift replaces today’s paper binders and scattered spreadsheets with a single, authoritative digital record—cutting admin time and making safety audits faster and safer.
Business can get prepared by starting early. Leaving adoption until closer to the deadline will mean paperwork chaos and a scramble to continue operations.
Many businesses are already turning towards digital tools for equipment management. This is both in preparation for the EU Machinery Regulation and DPP, and also to improve their approach to compliance, save time and ultimately save money. Digital tools for equipment management remove the headaches or searching through cupboards or spreadsheets for documentation. With complete visibility of an equipment’s status and history, all in one place, there are no longer question marks over compliance, while equipment users can have peace of mind.
Starting with the implementation of a digital system for equipment documentation and management today can help save time later. It can also help equipment suppliers and inspectors stand out from the crowd by offering digital documentation that helps customers prepare for the future DPP.
With Onix, you can prepare everything you need for the DPP today. Onix is an equipment compliance management system (ECMS) that creates and stores a digital twin of your equipment with easy accessibility in the cloud. This means:
Onix also has an open API that will allow for the integration of DPP data into any future EU database, should it be required. That means that if you start the work today, you can be ready for the DPP at the same time as improving your equipment management to ensure compliance, save time and improve safety.
Are you ready to get started? Talk to one of our experts today about how Onix can help prepare for the DPP 👇