Why Digital Product Passports are required
From July 2027, many products placed on the EU market must have a Digital Product Passport (DPP) to comply with the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). A DPP is not a marketing label—it is a structured, digital record that makes product information accessible to authorities, supply-chain partners, and end users.
- what materials a product contains
- where those materials come from
- how composition or sustainability claims are supported
- who is responsible for the information
What this means for small companies (MKB)
The ESPR does not only apply to large brands. If you sell physical products in the EU, place products on the market under your own name, or supply larger companies that must be compliant, then DPP requirements will affect you directly.
Customers, platform operators, and auditors increasingly request structured product data from their suppliers.
Under ESPR, responsible material choices must be supported by verifiable evidence—declarations, tests, or certificates linked to specific products and suppliers.
Incomplete or inconsistent information can make a product non-compliant, even if the material itself is appropriate.
What M-DPP is
M-DPP is a two-year applied research project (2025–2027) developed by Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and HAN University of Applied Sciences, co-funded by NWO/SIA. The project applies a design-science methodology: knowledge is generated by building, testing, and evaluating working solutions in realistic contexts with real companies.
What does a Digital Product Passport need to look like in order to actually work for small companies?
What the project investigates for small companies
M-DPP is designed with companies in mind that lack dedicated compliance teams, legal departments, or complex data infrastructures.
Not all possible data is required. M-DPP clarifies which information is essential under ESPR and which is not.
Supplier declarations and certificates are assessed for completeness, clarity, and suitability for DPP use—helping companies identify gaps or risks.
Material and product information is linked explicitly to products, materials, suppliers, and claims—allowing reuse in future DPP systems.
By making uncertainty, scope, and responsibility explicit, M-DPP helps companies avoid overclaiming and unintended non-compliance.
Why this matters now
Although July 2027 may seem distant, larger companies are already requesting DPP-style data, pilot systems are being rolled out, and expectations about structure and terminology are being fixed now. Small companies that prepare early are better positioned to maintain market access, respond to customer requests, and avoid last-minute, costly adaptations.