Digital Product Passport
A product record that can be read, checked and trusted
Not a landing page behind a QR code. A structured record with defined fields, an access policy, signed evidence behind each claim, and an identifier that still resolves fifteen years after the product was made.
- Identity
- GS1 Digital Link
- Model
- CIRPASS-aligned
- Levels
- Model · batch · item
GS1 Digital Link
id.circuleid.com/01/09506000134352
- Product
- Merino Crew Knit
- GTIN
- 09506000134352
- Material composition
- 82% RWS merino · 18% recycled PA
- Carbon footprint
- 14.2 kg CO₂e · ISO 14067
- Recycled content
- 18.4% by mass
- End-of-life route
- Take-back · fibre-to-fibre
Illustrative passport record. Field coverage follows the ESPR delegated act for the product group.
Definition
What is a Digital Product Passport?
A Digital Product Passport is a structured, machine-readable record of a product's materials, origin, carbon footprint, repairability and end-of-life handling, accessed by scanning a QR code or NFC tag. Under the EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, passports become mandatory per product group through delegated acts phased from 2026 to 2030.
The definition matters because the word is used loosely. A passport is distinguished from a product page by three properties: defined fields agreed in CIRPASS and CEN-CENELEC JTC 24, an access policy with public and restricted tiers, and claims that can be verified without trusting the platform serving them.
Definition
What makes it a passport rather than a web page
| Property | Marketing page behind a QR | Digital Product Passport |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | Free-form content authored per product | Defined fields from a standards-based model |
| Identity | A URL that can change or break | A GS1 Digital Link identifier tied to the product |
| Access | One version for everyone | Public and credential-gated tiers over one record |
| Evidence | Assertions with no attributable source | Claims signed by the party that made them |
| History | Overwritten on every edit | EPCIS 2.0 events, dated and additive |
| Portability | Bound to the platform that hosts it | Servable by any conforming resolver |
Capabilities
What issuance actually involves
Carrier generation
GS1 Digital Link payloads for QR, NFC or RFID, generated per model, batch or item.
Resolution on your domain
Identifiers resolve under your own hostname, so a long-lived public artefact does not depend on ours.
CIRPASS-aligned model
Fields follow the emerging standard model, so a delegated act arrives as a mapping rather than a rebuild.
Signed claims
Recycled content, certifications and conformity issued as W3C Verifiable Credentials by their asserting party.
Bill of materials linkage
Components carry their own identity, so replacing one updates the passport instead of invalidating it.
Lifetime updates
Repairs, resales and recovery write back to the same identity for as long as the product exists.
Issuance
How a passport is issued
- 01
Assign identity
The product receives a GS1 identifier at the level you have chosen — model, batch or item. Everything else attaches to it.
- 02
Assemble the record
Data maps in from PLM, ERP and carbon accounting; the gap report names what the delegated act still requires.
- 03
Attach evidence
Suppliers issue signed credentials for the claims that must be provable, rather than sending values to be transcribed.
- 04
Publish the carrier
The Digital Link payload goes onto the product or its label, and the identifier begins resolving to the right view per caller.
Answers
Frequently asked questions
What is a Digital Product Passport?
A Digital Product Passport is a structured, machine-readable record of a product’s materials, origin, carbon footprint, repairability and end-of-life handling, reached by scanning a data carrier such as a QR code, NFC tag or RFID tag. It follows the product across its lifecycle rather than describing it at the moment of sale.
Is a passport the same as a product page or a QR landing page?
No. A product page is marketing content authored by the brand; a passport is structured data with defined fields, an access policy, and evidence behind each claim. The distinction matters in an inspection: an authority can verify a passport claim independently, and cannot do anything with a marketing page.
At what level is a passport issued — model, batch or item?
All three, and the choice is yours per product group. Model level suits high-volume goods with uniform composition. Batch level is required where evidence attaches to a consignment, as with EUDR timber. Item level is worth its cost where resale, service history or authentication matter, as in luxury goods and industrial equipment.
Which data carrier should we use?
A printed QR code carrying a GS1 Digital Link URL covers most cases and costs nothing to apply. NFC suits products where a code would spoil the object or wear away. RFID suits logistics-heavy chains that already read tags. CirculeID resolves the same identity regardless of how it is carried.
How long does a passport have to remain available?
For the product’s useful life, which for furniture, equipment or a battery can be fifteen years or more. That horizon is the strongest argument for open standards: a record expressed in GS1 and W3C specifications can be served by another conforming resolver, whereas a proprietary format depends on one vendor still existing.
Next step
Issue your first passport
Bring one product. We will assign it an identity, map what you already hold, and show you what resolves when someone scans it.