TCF POST Report
BRUSSELS, August 12, 2026 — The European Commission has launched the Digital Product Passport (DPP) Registry and a dedicated testing environment, marking a major step toward a more transparent and digitally traceable product system across the European Union.
Established under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), the DPP framework is designed to provide digital information about products, strengthen supply-chain transparency, support informed consumer choices and facilitate regulatory compliance across the EU Single Market.
The new Registry will serve as the EU-level indexing system for Digital Product Passports covering products placed on the European market. Textiles and apparel-related products are among the sectors expected to be significantly affected, alongside steel and aluminium, tyres, furniture, ICT products and energy-related products. The system will also support product groups covered by other EU legislation requiring DPP registration, including certain large batteries, construction products, toys and detergents.
Registry to become a key compliance infrastructure
Under the new system, economic operators will be required to register each applicable DPP in the Registry before products are placed on the EU market, in line with the relevant legislation.
The Registry will not function as a central warehouse for all product information. Instead, it will securely store unique product identifiers, registration information and high-level metadata, while detailed product information contained in individual DPPs will remain under the responsibility of the relevant economic operators.
Companies will be able to register DPPs through a secure user interface or an application programming interface (API). The API option is intended to allow businesses to integrate DPP registration into their existing digital systems and supply-chain infrastructure. Businesses will also receive secure electronic proof of registration.
For textile and apparel companies, the development represents another step toward greater digitalisation of product and supply-chain information. As EU sustainability and product-related requirements increasingly emphasize traceability and product-level data, manufacturers, importers and other economic operators will need systems capable of collecting, maintaining and exchanging relevant information throughout a product’s lifecycle.
Customs and market surveillance gain digital verification tools
The DPP Registry will also strengthen enforcement of EU product rules.
Customs authorities will be able to electronically verify whether an imported product has a valid registered DPP and whether the required commodity code has been provided before the product is released for free circulation. Market surveillance authorities will receive access to registered DPP information for specified enforcement purposes.
The Registry’s implementing framework establishes rules covering access management, user verification, data registration, storage and the technical architecture of the system. It will also host common technical elements, including data models, structures and semantic definitions, intended to promote harmonised use of DPP-related data.
Testing begins ahead of first implementation deadline
The European Commission said the current testing phase is intended to help ensure a smooth implementation of the system ahead of the first DPP implementation deadline on February 18, 2027, which applies to certain categories of large batteries.
Businesses can now access the testing environment, technical documentation, implementation guidance and webinars through the Commission’s dedicated DPP website. A helpdesk has also been established to assist economic operators with the registration process.
The DPP Registry forms only one part of the broader DPP architecture established under the ESPR. While the Registry provides a common EU-level index, the DPP itself follows a decentralised model. Detailed product data remains with the relevant economic operators, which can host the information themselves or use specialised DPP service providers, subject to applicable EU requirements.
For textile and apparel supply chains supplying the European market, the emerging DPP system is therefore likely to make product data management, traceability and interoperability increasingly important elements of EU market access and compliance.