Article 11 Explained

Understand the ESPR Article 11 (Technical Design and Operation of Digital Product Passport) governing how DPP systems must operate and interact.

Summary

Article 11 defines how digital product passports must be designed and operated to ensure seamless functionality across the EU market:

Digital passports must be fully interoperable across all systems
Free access for all stakeholders based on their specific access rights
High security and privacy protection with fraud prevention
Service providers have strict data handling restrictions

Article 11 - Technical design and operation of the digital product passport

In plain terms: This article sets the rules for how digital passport systems must work together and be operated securely.

Essential design and operation requirements

The technical design and operation of the digital product passport shall comply with the following essential requirements:

the digital product passport shall be fully interoperable with other digital product passports required by delegated acts adopted pursuant to Article 4 in relation to the technical, semantic and organisational aspects of end-to-end communication and data transfer;

customers, manufacturers, importers, distributors, dealers, professional repairers, independent operators, refurbishers, remanufacturers, recyclers, market surveillance authorities and customs authorities, civil society organisations, trade unions and other relevant actors shall have free of charge and easy access to the digital product passport based on their respective access rights set out in the applicable delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 4;

the digital product passport shall be stored by the economic operator responsible for its creation or by digital product passport service providers;

where a new digital product passport is created for a product that already has a digital product passport, the new digital product passport shall be linked to the original digital product passport or passports;

the digital product passport shall remain available for the period specified in delegated acts adopted pursuant to Article 4, including after an insolvency, a liquidation or a cessation of activity in the Union of the economic operator responsible for the creation of the digital product passport;

the rights to introduce, modify or update data in the digital product passport shall be restricted based on the access rights specified in delegated acts adopted pursuant to Article 4;

data authentication, reliability and integrity shall be ensured;

digital product passports shall be designed and operated so that a high level of security and privacy is ensured and fraud is avoided.

Service provider data restrictions

In plain terms: Service providers cannot sell or misuse the data they store - they can only use it for providing the storage service.

If the digital product passport is stored pursuant to point (c) of the first subparagraph or otherwise processed by digital product passport service providers, those digital product passport service providers shall not sell, reuse or process such data, in whole or in part, beyond what is necessary for the provision of the relevant storing or processing services, unless specifically agreed with the economic operator placing the product on the market or putting it into service.

Service provider requirements and certification

In plain terms: The EU can create detailed rules and certification schemes for service providers to ensure they meet quality and security standards.

The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 72 to supplement this Article by setting out the requirements that digital product passport service providers are to comply with in order to become such providers, and, where appropriate, a certification scheme to verify compliance with such requirements, and by setting out the requirements that those service providers are to comply with when providing digital product passport services.

Digital credentials for access control

In plain terms: The EU can create systems to verify who has access to digital passport data and what they're allowed to see.

The Commission may adopt implementing acts setting out procedures to issue and verify the digital credentials of economic operators and other relevant actors that have access rights to data included in the digital product passport.