The EU Digital Product Passport (DPP)
The Digital Product Passport is the data layer of ESPR: a machine-readable record that accompanies a regulated product through its lifecycle. This page covers the central registry, the published DPP standards, and the battery passport, which is the most mature category.
The DPP Registry
Under ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) Article 13, the EU DPP registry had to be operational by 19 July 2026.
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The Commission central Registry went live to users on 20 July 2026, a day after the 19 July operational deadline, and its operating rules are in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778 (adopted 16 July 2026, published 17 July 2026, in force 6 August 2026).
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The registry is an index, not a data warehouse, holding the unique identifier, data-carrier reference, and pointers to passport content held by the manufacturer, a service provider, or another platform. Market surveillance and customs use it to verify a passport exists and is valid.
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The economic operator placing the product on the market is responsible for passport registration, even when a third-party PIM or DPP service provider performs registration and lifecycle updates.
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Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778 sets the registration data (Art. 8(9)): the unique identifiers, the commodity code where relevant, a reference to the DPP service provider, and registrant information including the date and time of registration. Only verified economic operators can register, after an identity check under Article 4 using eIDAS means such as a qualified electronic seal.
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With the Registry live since 20 July 2026, this is a readiness gap rather than a countdown. Operators in a regulated category should already know who registers (in-house or a service provider), whether they can issue unique identifiers and data carriers that comply with ISO/IEC 15459 (GS1 Digital Link is one option), and whether their EORI and conformity documentation are ready to link. Any open question is immediate work, because no category deadline will wait for it.
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DPP Standards and Data Carriers
CEN and CENELEC published the first six horizontal DPP standards on 26 May 2026 under Standardisation Request M/604 (definitive texts made available, DAV, 27 May 2026), covering data exchange protocols (EN 18216), unique identifiers (18219), data carriers (18220), storage and persistence (18221), lifecycle and search APIs (18222), and system interoperability (18223). Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736 of 14 July 2026 cited all six effective 15 July 2026, so conformity with them carries a presumption of conformity with the DPP requirements in ESPR Articles 10 and 11 (Article 41(2)). CEN approved two more, EN 18239 and EN 18246, on 17 August 2026, and they were published on 15 September 2026 (DAV 16 September 2026) but, as of 30 September 2026, are not cited in the Official Journal.
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In batteries and automotive, the Catena-X / IDTA AAS battery passport guideline (February 2026) is the most concrete buildable specification available.
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The Battery Passport
Battery passports are mandatory from 18 February 2027 for EV batteries, LMT batteries, and industrial batteries over 2 kWh (Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, Article 77).
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IDTA and Catena-X released the Digital Battery Passport Use Case Guideline of the AAS in February 2026, with open semantic submodel templates, API architecture, and Eclipse Tractus-X as reference application, and as of mid-2026 it is the most concrete buildable battery DPP specification.
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Annex XIII of the Batteries Regulation sets passport content in four access tiers: public battery-model information; information for persons with a legitimate interest and the Commission; information for notified bodies and market surveillance authorities; and individual-battery data. It draws on Annex VI Part A identification data, the Article 7 carbon footprint, Article 8 recycled content, Article 10 performance and durability parameters, and the Article 52(3) due-diligence report, but states no field count. Commission guidance of 21 August 2026, Digital Batteries Passport data points by category, consolidates 71 data points across EV, LMT, and industrial batteries, marking each mandatory, optional, conditional, or not required as of February 2027, with its legal source, though the Commission says it adds no legal requirements and is not an authoritative interpretation. Industry counts such as the Battery Pass consortium figure had put the flattened total at roughly 90 attributes.
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The Global Battery Alliance 2026 Operational Trials ran with 17 value-chain consortia, mapping supply chains, collecting data against the GBA Battery Benchmarks and Greenhouse Gas Rulebook, and testing digital solutions with independent assurance providers. Results originally expected in June 2026 have not appeared as a consolidated report, and as of 7 September 2026 the GBA pilots page carries consortium write-ups (among them AESC, CATL, CALB, FinDreams, Hithium, Panasonic, Rio Tinto, and Sunwoda) and says dashboards of third-party verified data will follow in the second half of 2026, while the main battery passport page still says June.
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The EV battery carbon-footprint calculation methodology act was still in draft as of 10 August 2026, roughly eighteen months past its February 2025 adoption target. Because it gates real enforcement of the carbon-footprint declaration requirement, do not finalize your reporting approach until it is adopted.
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Readiness is strongest in the automotive and large-cell segment (Catena-X, IDTA, and GBA ecosystems); gap risk sits with smaller producers and segments outside it, such as light-means-of-transport and industrial-storage, where implementation is pilot-stage and fragmented.
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