New industry-wide solution shows how Digital Product Passports can work in practice

Within a couple of years, the EU is expected to implement new legislation requiring almost all products on the European market to have a Digital Product Passport. These will provide data on product content and sustainability performance throughout the product’s life cycle, to make it easier for companies, customers, and authorities to make sustainable choices. The ProPare project has now developed a prototype for how Digital Product Passports can work in practice, regardless of product, industry, or user.

"We are pleased to present an industry-wide prototype based on global and competition-neutral standards. Openness and accessibility are central components for Digital Product Passports to be successfully implemented and indeed lead to increased circularity and traceability", says Viveka Risberg, Project Manager for ProPare and Program Director for Sustainable Production and Consumption at Axfoundation.

Behind the competition-neutral digital solution are the non-profit actors Axfoundation, Ecolabeling Sweden, GS1 Sweden, and the Swedish Trade Association. These actors have, within the ProPare project, developed a prototype for an infrastructure showing how a Digital Product Passport can work in practice. How the solution can be used is shown through a demo app that is available in both App Store and Google Play. Corporate partners in the project are representatives from wholesalers, the grocery sector and home furnishing, including the brand owners Ahlsell, Axfood/Dagab and Mio. The demo app has been developed by the technology developer Blue Cromos.

Hundreds of thousands of products are put on the EU's internal market every year. In the upcoming EU legislation Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), companies will be responsible for making product data available, including information on product content and sustainability performance. Standardized solutions that are easy to implement are therefore needed, according to the actors behind ProPare.

"It is important that the Digital Product Passports are not hampered by locked and non-compatible solutions, or by centralized databases run by public authorities. In the ProPare project, we have built a solution using existing technology in a new way and proved that a global, open infrastructure works for data that is both obtained from brand owners and from third-party certification bodies. We have used the Nordic Swan Ecolabel as an example, but the solution can work for any product data," says Staffan Olsson, Head of Public Affairs at GS1 Sweden.

The introduction of Digital Product Passports on the market opens new possibilities, while also placing several demands on the European business community. Today's consumers have high expectations for companies to work proactively with issues related to sustainability and circularity.

"Companies now have an opportunity to gain a competitive advantage and future-proof their business by preparing for the upcoming legislation. In addition to speeding up a sustainable transition and benefiting the company, product passports make it easier for consumers and buyers. The main benefit is digital order and structure in the supply chain for quality products with strong sustainability performance", says Magnus Nikkarinen, Senior Policy Director - Sustainability at the Swedish Trade Association.

Five facts about Digital Product Passports:

1. The implementation of Digital Product Passports takes place within the framework of the EU's new eco-design legislation which aims to require more sustainable products. Individual legislation for different product categories will be in place by 2025 at the earliest.
   
2. Digital Product Passports contain information that is specific to a product. All relevant data must be made accessible during the product's life cycle to contribute to sustainable production and consumption. Examples of sustainability information are the product's climate footprint, recyclability, and repairability. In addition, there is a possibility of clarifying the product's sustainability performance with a third-party certified ecolabel, for example, the Nordic Swan Ecolabel or the EU Ecolabel.
   
3. When the Digital Product Passports are available and fully functional, information must be accessible by scanning a code on the product, for example, a QR code, that is specific to the product.
   
4. The Digital Product Passports aim to increase transparency and facilitate a circular economy by requiring brand owners to share various sustainability data for their products.
   
5. To speed up the sustainable transition and avoid fragmented solutions, Digital Product Passports must be based on open, global, competition-neutral standards.

Contacts:

• Linda Andersson, Director of Communications, Axfoundation
  linda.andersson@axfoundation.se, +46 (0)73 087 15 70
  
• Viveka Risberg, Program Director for Sustainable Production and Consumption, Axfoundation,
  viveka.risberg@axfoundation.se, +46 (0)72 518 00 95
  
• Magnus Nikkarinen, Senior Policy Director - Sustainability,
  The Swedish Trade Federation
  magnus.nikkarinen@svenskhandel.se, +46 (0)73 903 53 28
  
• Staffan Olsson, Head of Public Affairs, GS1 Sweden
  staffan.olsson@gs1.se, +46 (0)70 327 70 11