Bundled information about all stages of the value chain, about proper handling, reuse and disposal: All this is to be provided by the digital product passport (DPP), which will be introduced gradually from 2027 for certain goods in the European Union. The start will be made by manufacturers of batteries with more than two kilowatt-hours of capacity. In the following years, the solution will then be extended to additional product groups and economic sectors. These include, for example, the fashion and furniture industries, the tire trade, as well as the chemical and steel industries.
The data set is intended, according to EU wishes, to provide information about materials used, components and chemical substances
of a product, but also about its reparability and proper recycling. By doing so, the European Union aims to promote the implementation of a circular economy. Through a QR code, an RFID tag or a barcode, this information should be accessible to all participants in the value chain.
Model the lifecycle
Consumers can, in this way, find out, for example, where a product comes from, under what conditions it was manufactured and how it must be disposed of. Logistics and supply chain managers receive data for smooth processing in the process chain and for meeting reporting obligations.
In reality, however, the digital product passport is viewed critically by many. As the German Federal
Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt) found in a joint survey with the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) among 1,500 companies in Germany in July 2025, many companies are skeptical of the digital solution. About half of the surveyed companies primarily associate the digital product passport with more bureaucracy and rising costs. They fear that its introduction will lead to additional effort and tie up resources. The collection and sharing of environmental information also meets with reluctance. So far, only a few companies digitally record the environmental impacts of their products or share corresponding data along the value chain.
A similar picture emerges from a corporate survey by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW Köln) from
autumn 2024 among 1,078 companies in German industry as well as corporate-related services. Accordingly, two-thirds of respondents do not know the digital product passport or consider it not relevant. Only four percent have already taken measures to prepare for the introduction of the DPP, a further eleven percent plan to engage with the DPP. Seventeen percent of companies know the idea of the DPP, but deliberately do not engage with it and do not plan to do so in the future.
How companies can gradually approach the digital product passport and what benefits the solution brings is shown in the cover story of the LOGISTIK HEUTE issue 10/2025, which appeared on October 10.
