Legal | Tax | Compliance
Legal | Tax | Compliance
The Digital Product Passport will serve as the data foundation for compliance, repair, recycling and sustainability communication.
I. Regulatory Framework
The ESPR has been in force since 18 July 2024. It sets out performance requirements and information obligations relating to durability, reparability, recyclability, recycled content, materials, energy and resource consumption, and environmental footprints. In principle, it covers almost all physical goods. Statutory exemptions apply to certain product categories.
The Commission sets out priorities in its work plans. The 2025–2030 work plan lists, amongst other things, textiles, furniture, tyres, mattresses, iron and steel, and aluminium. Horizontal measures are also planned regarding repairability, as well as the proportion of recycled content and the recyclability of electrical and electronic equipment. The years specified in the work plan indicate indicative dates for legislative acts, not necessarily the date on which they come into force.
II. How the Digital Product Passport works
For products subject to ESPR requirements, a Digital Product Passport (DPP) is to be introduced as a general rule, provided that no equivalent digital system exists. The passport may contain information on material composition, origin, repair, recyclability, substances and environmental impacts. The specific delegated act determines which details are actually required.
The DPP is not a product database entirely pre-configured by the EU. Economic operators remain responsible for ensuring that the information is accurate, complete and up to date. Interoperable data carriers and differentiated access rights are intended to make information available to consumers, market surveillance authorities, customs, repair companies and recyclers.
III. Practical implications for Swiss companies
Data model: Product master data, material data, substance information and supplier documentation must be structured and linked in a product-specific manner.
Governance: Responsibilities for the creation, verification, approval and updating of the DPP must be defined.
Contracts: Suppliers must provide data in agreed formats, to a defined standard of quality and within specified deadlines.
Market access: EU importers require reliable information for declarations of conformity, technical documentation and inspections.
Data protection and trade secrets: Access rights and data sharing must comply with product-specific requirements.
IV. Implications for the Board of Directors and Executive Management
The DPP must not be treated as an isolated IT project. It links product development, procurement, regulatory affairs, data protection, IT security and communication. Priority is given to product groups from the 2025–2030 work plan. However, the final implementation costs can only be determined on the basis of the relevant delegated act.
«Circular Economy» mini-series
Find out more about the individual regulations relating to the circular economy in our mini-series. The other articles in the mini-series cover the following topics:
«PFAS are putting material cycles to the test»: PFAS regulation, recyclability, replacement parts and supply chain data.
«Digital Product Passport and ESPR are transforming product management»: eco-design requirements, data architecture and governance.
«The PPWR is already changing packaging today»: packaging design, recycled materials, reuse and producer responsibility.
«Repair is becoming part of the business model»: right to repair, spare parts, software support and product lifespan.
«Circularity claims also require robust evidence»: EmpCo, the Swiss Unfair Competition Act (UWG), the New Federal Act on Consumer Protection (NUFG) and the Climate Protection Ordinance.
The articles should be read as a coherent implementation chain: material and product data form the basis for compliance and repair; packaging and circularity strategies determine the operational framework; and robust evidence sets limits on permissible communication.
