For decades, product information has travelled as paper and PDFs: user manuals, safety datasheets, declarations of conformity, recycling instructions. The European Union's Digital Product Passport (DPP) changes that model. Product data will be stored as structured digital records, reached through a data carrier such as a QR code on the product. The first mandatory passport, for batteries, applies from February 2027.
What the Digital Product Passport is
The DPP comes from the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which entered into force in 2024. For product groups covered by later rules, manufacturers must provide a passport with information such as:
- Materials and substances of concern.
- Carbon footprint and environmental performance.
- Repair, disassembly and spare-part information.
- Recycling and end-of-life instructions.
- Compliance documents and certificates.
The passport is accessed by scanning the product's data carrier. Different people (consumers, repairers, recyclers, authorities) see different levels of detail.
Timeline
- Batteries: the Batteries Regulation requires a battery passport for EV batteries, industrial batteries above 2 kWh and light means of transport batteries from 18 February 2027.
- Other product groups are being prioritised through ESPR working plans, with textiles, steel, aluminium and other categories expected to follow in the second half of the decade.
- The central registry and technical standards are being developed by the Commission and European standards bodies.
What happens to PDFs?
PDFs do not disappear, but they stop being the main container for product information.
- Structured data comes first. Values like material composition and carbon footprint must be machine-readable, not buried in a PDF table.
- Documents can still be linked. User manuals, safety instructions and declarations of conformity can be attached or linked as documents in the passport, and PDF remains a natural format for them.
- Accessibility matters. Documents provided digitally to consumers fall under accessibility expectations; see the European Accessibility Act checklist.
- Archiving matters. Passports must remain available for the product's lifetime, which can be ten years or more. Linked documents should be stable and archival. See PDF/A explained.
How documentation teams can prepare
- Separate data from layout. Keep specifications, materials and certifications in a database or PIM system, and generate PDFs from it rather than maintaining them by hand.
- Make manuals accessible and well tagged, so they can be reused in digital channels and read by assistive technology. See how to make PDFs readable by AI agents, which uses the same principles.
- Version carefully. Each product batch may point to a specific document version. See document versioning best practices.
- Plan for long-lived links. A URL that breaks in three years defeats the purpose.
- Digitally sign declarations of conformity to prove authenticity.
Takeaway
The Digital Product Passport moves product information from documents to data, starting with batteries in 2027. PDFs remain the format for manuals and certificates, but they become attachments to a structured record rather than the record itself. Teams that already generate documents from structured data will find the transition easiest.
