The EU is continually working on making the fashion industry more sustainable. The fashion industry generates 10% of global CO2 emissions.

The regulation is a part of the EU's broader efforts to reach climate neutrality by 2050 and have a significant reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030.

The current state of play specifically related to Digital Product Passports is as follows:

1. 20th March 2022 saw the release of ESPR (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation) Proposal. This proposal is related to the EU’s Geen New Deal efforts and relates to the 2020 Circular Economy Action plan and the Ecodesign Initiative. In the proposal Digital Product Passports are mentioned 23 times.
2. The EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles released in March 2022 called for mandating the obligation to use Digital Product Passports in the upcoming years.
3. The European Commission under the Digital Europe Programme launched CIRPASS. CIRPASS is a collaborative initiative to prepare the ground for the gradual piloting and deployment of a standards-based Digital Product Passport (DPP) aligned with the requirements of the Proposal for Ecodesign for Sustainable Product Regulations (ESPR), with an initial focus on the electronics, batteries, and textile sectors.
4. In March 2024 CIRPASS published its findings and announced the second round of the programme.
5. The ESPR (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation) entered into force 18th July 2024.
6. According to the regulation "The ESPR will introduce a Digital Product Passport (DPP), a digital identity card for products, components, and materials, which will store relevant information to support products’ sustainability, promote their circularity and strengthen legal compliance. This information will be accessible electronically, making it easier for consumers, manufacturers, and authorities to make more informed decisions related to sustainability, circularity and regulatory compliance. It will allow custom authorities to perform automatic checks on the existence and authenticity of the DPPs of imported products."
7. The ESPR contains a detailed action plan. We expect Digital Product Passports to become a requirement EU-wide by 2027. However, some countries will mandate their use earlier. France has already done so in 2023. You can read more about it in our article here.

Product pass provides full compliance to the regulatory requirements. But our aim is to use this opportunity to provide much more.

We do not see this regulation as a burden, but an emerging opportunity for brands to:

1. Get better conversion rates by allowing customers to see tamper-proof data about the environmental impact of the product (regulatory requirement)
2. Gain insights into who owns their products at all time, including all second-hand owners (extra benefit)
3. Gain a direct communication channel to all owners, including all second-hand owners (extra benefit)
4. Allow for products to gain certification of authenticity that can be transferred from owner to owner infinite times (extra benefit)

To gain strategic advantage it is best to start working on implementing pilots of Digital Product Passports to your products early.

With Product Pass, AI inputs all necessary product information into Digital Product Passports. The implementation requires no extra work, apart from providing us access to product data in any format.

If you want to find out more details about how Product Pass allows to best benefit from Digital Product Passports implementation into your products you can contact us here.

---

The opinions expressed in this blog post belong to the individual or individuals authoring the blog posts affiliated with More Metaverse PSA and do not necessarily reflect those of More Metaverse PSA. Product Pass is a More Metaverse PSA service. This content is intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as business or legal advice. Please consult your individual partners or advisers or contact us so that we can advise you where to receive certified legal advice provided by appropriate entities on matters related to the blog post above. We do not offer investment recommendations or legal advice. This content is not authorized to be treated as a reliable source of information for any prospective or current investors. It is also not authorized to be treated as a reliable source of information for any prospective or current clients of More Metaverse PSA. We rely on professional legal advice from regulated law firms when working with our clients, this resource is informational only. More Metaverse PSA has not independently verified this information and makes no guarantees regarding its accuracy or suitability for any specific purpose.