An A-Z of Digital Product Passports

A

AIDC. Automatic Identification and Data Capture. The umbrella term for technologies that machine-read a product identifier without human intervention. Includes barcodes, QR codes, Data Matrix, RFID and NFC. ESPR uses the term “data carrier” for the same family of technologies.

Application identifier. GS1’s prefix system for encoding the meaning of data elements inside a Digital Link URL or a scanned barcode. The common ones are 01 (GTIN), 10 (batch or lot number), 21 (serial number), 17 (expiration date) and 15 (best before date). Documented in the GS1 General Specifications.

B

Backup repository. ESPR Article 11 requires DPP data to be held by a registered repository operated by a party independent of the primary publisher. The intent is that the passport remains accessible if the brand’s own systems fail or the brand ceases trading. The EU is expected to designate or accredit a network of recognised backup providers; brands cannot rely on hosting their own passport data alone.

Barcode. The linear (1D) code that has been on packaging since the 1970s. Carries a GTIN that a till can scan to look up price. Will be progressively replaced at point of sale by 2D codes (QR or Data Matrix) under the GS1 Sunrise 2027 transition.

Battery Regulation. EU Regulation 2023/1542, applicable in phases from 2024 to 2027. Introduced the first sector-specific DPP requirement (the “battery passport”) for industrial batteries above 2 kWh capacity, electric-vehicle batteries and LMT (light means of transport, including e-bikes and e-scooters) batteries, with obligations around state of health, supply chain provenance for critical materials, carbon footprint and recycled content. The passport requirement applies from February 2027.

C

Carbon footprint. Cradle-to-gate CO2-equivalent emissions for a product, calculated to ISO 14067. Required under the Battery Regulation, under several emerging ESPR delegated acts, and under the Machinery Regulation for energy-using categories. Methodology and boundary conditions matter; published numbers without methodology behind them are not compliant.

Central registry. The EU registry expected to go live in July 2026, where all in-scope DPPs will be registered alongside being individually published by the brand. The registry is a discovery and verification mechanism for regulators, not a replacement for the brand’s own passport publication.

Construction Products Regulation (CPR). EU Regulation 2024/3110, in force since 7 January 2025, replacing the 2011 CPR. Most operational requirements apply from 8 January 2026, with category-specific provisions phasing in thereafter through harmonised technical specifications. Introduces a DPP requirement for construction products placed on the EU market. Construction materials sit under CPR rather than ESPR.

D

Data carrier. The physical marking on a product that resolves to the passport. ESPR cites QR code by name; Data Matrix, RFID and NFC are permitted alternatives. The data carrier encodes a Digital Link URL pointing to the passport’s web address.

Data Matrix. A 2D code format used in healthcare and pharma where space is constrained. Carries the same information as a QR code in a smaller footprint. Accepted as a data carrier under ESPR and used by GS1 in the healthcare sector.

Digital Product Passport (DPP). A structured set of data about an individual product, served at a public web URL, accessible without an app, machine-readable by regulators and consumers alike. Defined in ESPR Article 9 and operationalised through category-specific delegated acts under ESPR and through analogous provisions in CPR, the Battery Regulation, and the Machinery Regulation.

E

EAN. European Article Number, the legacy name for the 13-digit GTIN format used in European retail. EAN-13 is now formally called GTIN-13 in GS1 terminology, though “EAN” remains common shorthand on packaging.

Economic operator. The regulated party responsible for the DPP. In practice the brand owner placing the product on the EU market, or the importer if the brand is non-EU. The economic operator owns the data; the platform hosting the passport is the data processor, not the controller.

Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). EU Regulation 2024/1781, in force since July 2024. Establishes the framework for DPPs across an expanding list of product categories, starting with the textiles delegated act in 2027 and rolling through further categories to 2030.

F

Fibre composition. The breakdown of fibres in a textile product by percentage. A required field under the textiles delegated act, alongside dye information, repairability data and social compliance information.

G

Granularity hierarchy. The principle that DPP data is structured at three levels: facts about a product type live at the GTIN, facts about a batch live at GTIN-plus-batch, facts about an individual item live at GTIN-plus-serial. Higher-level facts inherit downward; lower-level facts do not duplicate upward.

GS1. The global standards body that issues GTINs and maintains the Digital Link standard. Operates through national member organisations (GS1 UK for the United Kingdom). The only authorised issuing agency for GTINs.

GS1 Digital Link. The URI syntax that turns a GTIN into a web address. The structure is https://<domain>/01/<GTIN> with optional /10/<batch> and /21/<serial> extensions. The standard underlying both ESPR DPP URLs and the Sunrise 2027 transition.

GTIN. Global Trade Item Number. The GS1-issued identifier that already sits on the linear barcode of every product placed through general retail. The persistent identifier used in GS1 Digital Link URLs and in the Unique Product Identifier referenced by ESPR.

H

Harmonised technical specifications. CPR’s term for the technical specifications that define a construction product category and its required passport fields. Replace the previous “harmonised standards” terminology under the 2011 CPR.

I

Interoperability. The ability of different systems to consume the same data without prior agreement. The reason DPP data is required to be structured (JSON-LD), to use schema.org as a semantic anchor and to follow the GS1 Digital Link URI syntax. Interoperability is what lets a regulator’s scanner, a marketplace’s catalogue importer and an AI assistant all read the same passport without bespoke integration.

ISO/IEC 15459. The standard family that governs unique identification. GS1 is a registered issuing agency under 15459, and several other identifier schemes referenced in DPP regulation register under the same framework.

Issuing agency. The body authorised to issue identifiers within a particular scheme. GS1 is the issuing agency for GTINs; other identifier schemes have their own.

J

JSON-LD. JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data. The structured-data format used to serialise DPP data so that it is both human-readable and machine-readable. Pairs with schema.org as the semantic vocabulary.

L

LCA. Life Cycle Assessment. The methodology behind the environmental fields a DPP carries, covering material extraction, manufacturing, transport, use phase and end of life. Required to follow ISO 14040 and 14044 for regulated DPP claims.

llms.txt. A site-level file declaring what content the site makes available for AI assistant ingestion. Used by AI assistants to identify the authoritative content for a brand or topic. Worth keeping current alongside any DPP publication.

M

Machinery Regulation. EU Regulation 2023/1230, applicable from January 2027. Introduces DPP requirements for machinery in scope, with obligations around technical specifications, maintenance and repair instructions, energy consumption details and end-of-life handling guidance.

Multi-tenant. An architectural pattern where one software platform serves many brands with isolated data and identifiers per brand. The pattern DPP platforms use, so the underlying schema engine and publishing infrastructure can be shared across brands without exposing one brand’s data to another.

N

NFC. Near-Field Communication. A short-range wireless protocol that allows a chip embedded in a product to be read by a phone held against it. An alternative data carrier to QR codes, useful where the carrier needs to survive the lifetime of the product (jackets, machinery) rather than just the packaging.

Notified body. Under CPR, the third-party assessor authorised to verify a construction product’s conformity with harmonised technical specifications. Notified bodies will have a role in verifying CPR passport data for some product categories.

O

Origin. Country of origin, a frequently required DPP field. The relevant delegated act defines the precise origin field for each category; the underlying identifier comes from the GS1 application identifier 422 and from ISO 3166 country codes.

P

Persistent identifier. An identifier that survives changes of domain, hosting arrangement or owner. The GTIN-based Digital Link URL is persistent in this sense: if example.com ever disappears, the GTIN is still recognisable and can be resolved through other resolvers in the network.

PIM. Product Information Management. The standard system for managing product data inside a brand. The natural source for DPP-bound data, though not designed for DPP-compliant structure out of the box. The preparation work is less about creating new data than about gathering, structuring and validating what is already in the PIM.

PPWR. Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, EU Regulation 2025/40, applicable from August 2026. Introduces additional requirements for packaging material declarations and recyclability labelling that intersect with the DPP. Where a product and its packaging both fall under DPP regimes, the passport must accommodate both.

Q

QR code. Quick Response code. The dominant data carrier for DPPs, supported on every smartphone camera. ESPR cites QR by name as the primary carrier. Carries a Digital Link URL pointing to the passport.

R

Repair. ESPR’s circular economy emphasis includes mandatory repair information for several product categories. The passport is expected to carry repair instructions, parts availability information and any restrictions on third-party repair, including the right-to-repair provisions emerging in parallel EU legislation.

Resolver. The small piece of software that routes a Digital Link URL to its destination. Reads the URL, identifies the link type requested, decides which destination to return and either serves the content or redirects. The brand can operate its own resolver, use a platform that operates one on its behalf, or use a GS1 member organisation’s resolver.

RFID. Radio-Frequency Identification. Chip-based identification read at short range by a dedicated reader. Used in some sectors (textiles, retail inventory, automotive parts) where the identifier needs to be readable in bulk without line of sight. Accepted as a data carrier under ESPR.

S

Scan-then-select. The GS1 pattern where one QR code on a product can resolve to multiple link types: a passport, a marketing page, an instructions URL, a warranty URL, a conversational interface. The brand’s resolver decides which destination to return based on context.

Schema.org. The shared semantic vocabulary used to anchor DPP data. Co-maintained by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo with broad community participation, used by every major search engine and AI assistant. Schema.org is the practical choice for DPP semantics because consuming systems already understand it.

Serial number. The lowest level of GS1 granularity, identifying an individual item within a batch. GS1 application identifier 21. Required for categories where item-level traceability matters: batteries, certain pharma, and textiles under the emerging delegated act.

Sunrise 2027. GS1’s industry-wide transition to 2D barcodes (QR or Data Matrix powered by GS1 Digital Link) as the primary data carrier at retail point of sale. Pilots are already running in 51 countries representing 90 per cent of global GDP, with the goal that 2D codes will be universally scannable at retail POS by the end of 2027. Brand adoption is the gating factor.

T

Textiles delegated act. The first ESPR delegated act, expected in 2027, with compliance landing roughly eighteen months after adoption. Covers fibre composition, dye information, repairability and recyclability data, and social compliance. The named priority for the first wave of ESPR implementation. Footwear sits outside the current working plan pending a Commission study due at the end of 2027.

Traceability. The ability to track a product through its lifecycle: production, distribution, sale, use, repair, refurbishment, recycling. The structural reason DPPs exist; the passport is the digital substrate on which traceability is built.

U

UPI. Unique Product Identifier. The ESPR term for the persistent identifier that the passport resolves through. In practice, the UPI is the GTIN at model level plus optional batch and serial number extensions for finer granularity.

URI syntax. The structural rules governing a Digital Link URL: which segments appear in which order, which application identifiers can be used, what each segment encodes. Specified in the GS1 Digital Link URI Syntax standard.

V

Variant. A product variation that may or may not warrant its own GTIN. The general rule from GS1 is that a different size, colour, weight, material or pack quantity should have its own GTIN. Where the recipe is the same and only the label artwork changes, the GTIN does not change.

Verifiable credential. A W3C standard for cryptographic proof of data authenticity. An emerging mechanism for proving that a passport claim was issued by a particular party and has not been altered. Likely to feature in later iterations of DPP regulation for high-trust claims like supply chain provenance and repair history.

W

Warranty. Warranty information is one of the link types published alongside the passport through scan-then-select. Not a required passport field in its own right, but a separate destination resolvable through the same Digital Link URL.