For consumers
Point your camera at it and find out
No app. No account. No sign-in. A Digital Product Passport opens like any other link and tells you what a product is made of, how to look after it, how to get it repaired, and where it goes when you are done with it.
- App required
- None
- Account required
- None
- Carrier
- QR or NFC
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 does a Digital Product Passport tell a consumer?
Scanning a product's QR code or NFC tag opens its passport: what it is made of, where its main production stages happened, how to care for and repair it, whether spare parts exist, any substances of concern, and how to return or recycle it. No app or account is needed.
Under the ESPR, part of a passport is public by law. Commercial detail stays restricted, and the parts a repairer or recycler needs are released to them — but what you can see, you can see without identifying yourself.
What you get
Six things a scan answers
No app, ever
The carrier holds an ordinary web address. Your camera opens it the way it opens any link.
Anonymous by default
The public view needs no account and no identification. Registration, if offered, is a separate choice.
Claims with an author
Recycled content, certifications and authenticity are signed, and the passport names who signed them.
Repair, not replace
Spare part availability, repair instructions and authorised repairers, where the manufacturer publishes them.
Where it goes
Return schemes, take-back routes and the correct disposal stream for the materials it actually contains.
In your language
The passport is data, not a printed label, so it can be read back in whatever language your device asks for.
How it works
From camera to answer
- 01
Find the carrier
A QR code or NFC tag, usually on the care label, the base of the product, or the packaging.
- 02
Scan it
Point your camera, or tap an NFC tag against your phone. The link opens in your browser.
- 03
Read the passport
Composition, care, repair and end-of-life information for that exact product, with the source of each claim shown.
Answers
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an app to read a Digital Product Passport?
No. The data carrier holds a normal web address in GS1 Digital Link format, so your phone’s camera opens it like any other link. Requiring an app would restrict passports to the small number of people willing to install one, which would defeat the purpose of a public transparency requirement.
Am I tracked when I scan a product?
Scanning the public tier requires no account and no identification. CirculeID does not ask who you are, and the brand receives aggregate scan information rather than a record tied to you. If a brand offers registration for warranty or ownership transfer, that is a separate and explicit choice.
What can I actually find out?
What the product is made of, where its main production stages happened, how to care for and repair it, whether spare parts are available, any substances of concern it contains, and how to return or recycle it. Under the ESPR the public tier is defined by each product group’s delegated act.
How do I know the information is true?
Claims that matter — recycled content, certifications, authenticity — are cryptographically signed by the party asserting them, and the passport shows who that was. It is not a guarantee the claim is correct, but it does mean a named organisation is accountable for it rather than nobody in particular.
What if the product is old or the code is damaged?
Passports can be resolved by typing the identifier if the carrier is unreadable. For products made before passports existed, a manufacturer can publish a model-level record retrospectively, which gives you composition and recycling guidance even without an item-level history.
Next step
If you make products, your customers will ask
The consumer view is the tier that reaches the most people and takes the least work. It is usually where a passport programme proves itself internally.