Digital product passport: start collecting your supply chain data now.
Serhat Altunoğlu
· 4 min read
Imagine scanning the square code on a product with your phone. The screen shows what materials it contains, where it was made, its carbon footprint, how to repair it and how to recycle it at the end of its life. That is exactly what the EU digital product passport (DPP) aims for.
For companies selling textiles, steel, aluminium or automotive parts to the EU, this is not a labelling job. It is a supply chain data job. In this post I cover the timeline, the data you will need and where AI helps.
Timeline: when, and for which products?
- 1July 2026: registryThe central registry that passports link to went live on 20 July 2026.
- 2February 2027: battery passportMandatory from 18 February 2027 for EV batteries, light means of transport batteries and industrial batteries above 2 kWh.
- 3Late 2026: iron and steelProduct rules for iron and steel are expected in the last quarter of 2026.
- 42027: textiles, aluminium, tyresRules for these product groups are expected in the second half of 2027.
- 52028: furnitureAfter rules are adopted, companies usually get about 18 months before they apply.
One rule already applies today: under the ESPR, large companies have been banned from destroying unsold clothing and footwear since 19 July 2026. The circularity clock in textiles has already started.
What data goes into the passport?
The exact list will be set for each product group, but the general frame is clear:
- Material composition and recycled content.
- Place of manufacture and origin.
- Carbon and environmental footprint (mandatory for batteries).
- Substances of concern.
- Repair, spare parts, disassembly and recycling information.
- Compliance documents and instructions for use.
A passport is not a label; it is a summary of your supply chain. You cannot write the summary without knowing the source.
The real challenge: the data sits with suppliers
Where the cotton in a shirt came from, the carbon footprint of a cell in a battery module, the scrap content of a steel part: often your supplier knows, not you. And your supplier has suppliers. Some of those tier-2 and tier-3 suppliers are in China or elsewhere in Asia.
Gartner lists tracing and verifying product provenance as a separate trend among its 2026 supply chain technology trends. The passport is the legal form of that need.
What can an AI agent do?
- A material and supplier list from the bill of materials (BOM)
- Data requests and follow-up with suppliers in Turkish, English or Chinese
- Reading incoming certificates and test reports against a checklist
- A weekly list of missing and expiring documents
- A draft data set mapped to passport fields
- Which product falls under which rule
- Whether to accept a supplier's declaration
- What is published in the passport
- Changing a supplier or ordering an audit
Where to start?
You can do three things without waiting for the timeline. First, pick your three best-selling products in the EU and map their bills of materials. Next, write each material's supplier and the document you hold side by side. Finally, start requesting what is missing. That last step takes weeks, and it is where an agent saves the most time.
This work sits in the sourcing step of the end-to-end AI automation loop. For the full regulatory picture, see the AI regulation 2026 guide.
This post is general information, not legal advice. For your own products, rely on the official texts and expert advice.
In our first conversation, we will find the biggest wait in your supply chain and where the first agent should go.
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