Article 9 Explained

Understand the ESPR Article 9 (Digital Product Passport Requirements) establishing the fundamental obligation to create digital product passports.

Summary

Article 9 makes digital product passports mandatory for covered products sold in the EU:

Products cannot be sold without a digital passport
Digital passports must contain accurate product data
Digital passports must follow technical standards set by the EU

Article 9 - Digital product passport

In plain terms: This article says that products sold in Europe must have a "digital passport" - like an ID card for products that contains important information about them.

Products need a digital passport to be sold

The information requirements shall provide that products can only be placed on the market or put into service if a digital product passport is available in accordance with the applicable delegated acts adopted pursuant to Article 4 and with Articles 10 and 11. The data in the digital product passport shall be accurate, complete and up to date.

What the digital passport rules must include

In plain terms: The EU will create detailed rules about what information must be included in digital passports and how they should work.

The requirements related to the digital product passport laid down in the delegated acts adopted pursuant to Article 4 shall, as appropriate for the product groups covered, specify the following:

the data to be included in the digital product passport pursuant to Annex III;

one or more data carriers to be used;

the layout in which the data carrier is to be presented and its positioning;

whether the digital product passport is to be established at model, batch or item level, and the definition of such levels;

the manner in which the digital product passport is to be made accessible to customers before they are bound by a contract for sale, hire or hire purchase, including in the event of distance selling;

the actors that are to have access to data in the digital product passport and to what data they are to have access;

the actors that are to create a digital product passport or update the data in a digital product passport and what data they may introduce or update;

the detailed arrangements for introducing or updating data;

the period during which the digital product passport is to remain available, which shall correspond to at least the expected lifetime of a specific product.

Why digital passports are important

In plain terms: Digital passports help everyone in the supply chain share product information, help authorities check if products follow the rules, and track where products come from.

The requirements referred to in paragraph 2 shall:

ensure that actors along the value chain can easily access and understand product information relevant to them;

facilitate the verification of product compliance by competent national authorities; and

improve the traceability of products along the value chain.

When products don't need digital passports

In plain terms: Some products might not need digital passports if the technology isn't ready yet or if there are already similar systems in place.

When setting the requirements related to the digital product passport, the Commission may exempt product groups from the requirement to have a digital product passport where:

technical specifications of the digital product passport are not available in relation to the essential requirements included in Articles 10 and 11; or

other Union law includes a system for the digital provision of information related to a product group which the Commission considers achieves the objectives referred to in paragraph 3, points (a) and (b).