# The Passport Brief

> A weekly intelligence brief on EU product compliance and Digital Product Passports (DPP),
> written for compliance, sustainability, and product leaders at manufacturers, importers,
> and certifiers. Each issue synthesises ESPR delegated acts, the EU Battery Regulation,
> DPP standardisation work, and market-surveillance signals into what changes for a product line,
> by when, and who is accountable.

Publisher: The Passport Brief. Editor: Y. Lietzke, former product-compliance lead and Digital Product Passport specialist.
Cadence: one issue per week, Tuesday 07:00 CET. Language: English. Region covered: European Union.
Independence: written independently of any vendor, certifier, or sponsor. The editor is the founder of ProTag AS
(https://protagsystems.io), a product-compliance software company; that relationship is disclosed and kept behind
an editorial firewall. Sponsored placements are always labelled.

## Key pages

- [Newsletter homepage](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/): what the brief covers, who it is for, and the free subscription form.
- [Issue archive](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/issues): every published issue, newest first.
- [Topic hubs](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/topics): themed hubs linking every issue and resource on one regime.
- [Sample issue](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/sample-issue): a full issue in the fixed house format — the one big thing, what it means for you, deadline watch, how companies are handling it, tool/standard spotlight, curated links, action items.
- [Resources](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/resources): paid playbooks, kits, templates, and reports, plus a free deadline calendar.
- [About](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/about): mission, editor bio, editorial standards, independence policy.
- [Sponsor](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/sponsor): audience profile, sponsorship placements, and media-kit requests.
- [Resource licence terms](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/license): individual vs team seats, permitted internal use, update windows, per-buyer watermarking.
- [Privacy & GDPR](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/privacy): controller, legal bases, processors, retention, and data-subject rights.

## Topic hubs

- [The EU battery passport](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/topics/battery-passport): The EU battery passport is the first Digital Product Passport obligation to bite in practice: from 18 February 2027, batteries in scope placed on the EU market must carry a data carrier resolving to a defined, maintained data set. The obligation sits with the economic operator placing the battery on the market, which makes importers as exposed as manufacturers. Most of the required data lives with cell suppliers, recyclers, and test partners, so readiness is a data-governance programme rather than a labelling one.
- [ESPR and the Digital Product Passport](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/topics/espr): The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) is a framework: it creates the Digital Product Passport and the power to set product requirements, but the substantive obligations arrive per product group through delegated acts. The working plan tells you which groups are queued; the delegated act sets the scope, data fields, and application date that bind you. Practically, the working plan is an 18–36 month early-warning signal and the transition period is your supplier-negotiation window.
- [Supplier data for product passports](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/topics/supplier-data): Most Digital Product Passport fields you cannot answer today are held by somebody else — cell suppliers, converters, recyclers, test houses — so your programme timeline is theirs, not yours. The lever is contractual: a data-supply clause naming fields, format, attestation, update obligation, and flow-down, attached at the next scheduled renewal. Classify every field as available, derivable, or supplier-dependent before you talk to a platform vendor.
- [Market surveillance and passport enforcement](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/topics/market-surveillance): A market surveillance check on a Digital Product Passport begins with a scan: does the carrier resolve, publicly and immediately, to the data the applicable act requires. Findings then come from inconsistency — passport data that contradicts the declaration of conformity or the technical file — and from passports that were accurate at launch and never updated. The cheapest preparation is to rehearse the check yourself, from outside your own network.

## Published issues (newest first)

- [The battery passport is a data-ownership problem, not a labelling problem](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/sample-issue) — published 2026-07-28, updated 2026-08-04. Why battery-passport programmes stall when they are run as labelling projects, and the data governance they actually require.
- [What the ESPR working plan actually commits the Commission to](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/issues/espr-working-plan-delegated-acts) — published 2026-07-21, updated 2026-08-04. How to read the ESPR working plan: which product groups are queued for delegated acts, and what that means for your DPP planning horizon.
- [The supplier data clause that decides your DPP timeline](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/issues/supplier-data-clauses-dpp) — published 2026-07-14, updated 2026-08-04. Why Digital Product Passport programmes slip on supplier response time, and the contract language that fixes it at renewal.
- [How market surveillance authorities will actually check a product passport](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/issues/market-surveillance-dpp-checks) — published 2026-07-07, updated 2026-08-04. What an authority sees when it scans a data carrier, and the three failure modes that turn a passport check into a finding.
- [Choose your data carrier and identifier before you choose a platform](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/issues/dpp-data-carriers-identifiers) — published 2026-06-30, updated 2026-08-04. Why identifier and resolver decisions outlast your DPP platform choice, and how to avoid reprinting carriers later.
- [Importers carry passport liability for data they never created](https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/issues/importer-obligations-product-passport) — published 2026-06-23, updated 2026-08-04. What EU importers are accountable for under the Digital Product Passport, and how to get leverage over data held outside the EU.

## Topics covered

- Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and its delegated acts by product category
- Digital Product Passport data models, identifiers, and data carriers (including GS1 Digital Link)
- EU Battery Regulation and the battery passport, including the 18 February 2027 milestone
- Supplier data collection, attestation, and governance for DPP data fields
- Market surveillance and enforcement patterns across member states

## Free resource

- ESPR & Battery-Regulation Deadline Calendar: See every obligation date that applies to your product line — before it becomes an audit finding. Available at https://digital-passport-digest.lovable.app/resources.

## Paid resources

- EU Battery Regulation & DPP Playbook (€99 individual, 1 seat; €299 team, up to 5 seats; ZIP — PDF + XLSX): Be ready for the 18 Feb 2027 battery-passport deadline. 14-page PDF: scope by battery category, duties by legal role, 20 dated obligations, the Annex XIII data model with access tiers and owners, a 6-phase 18-month programme, 10 pitfalls, glossary, sources. Plus an 8-tab workbook: SKU scope classifier, Annex XIII field tracker, live readiness score, supplier chase log.
- ESPR / DPP Readiness Kit (€149 individual, 1 seat; €449 team, up to 5 seats; PDF + XLSX): Know exactly where your product data fails, and what to fix first. Readiness checklist, gap-analysis scoring spreadsheet, remediation planner, and a 'who's obligated by when' one-pager.
- Supplier Data-Collection Templates (€49 individual, 1 seat; €149 team, up to 5 seats; XLSX + DOCX (zip)): Collect supplier data once, in the format auditors accept. 56-field supplier workbook (nine data packs, supplier register, chase log, dashboard), a 12-clause contract annex with Schedule 1, and five data-request email templates.
- DPP Vendor & Standards Landscape Report (€199 individual, 1 seat; €599 team, up to 5 seats; PDF): Choose a DPP vendor without a six-month evaluation. Annual market map of DPP and compliance vendors and standards, plus selection criteria.
- Regulatory Deadline Tracker (€149 individual, 1 seat; €449 team, up to 5 seats; PDF + XLSX (ZIP)): Never brief your board on a deadline you found out about late. 29 dated obligations to 2036 across ten instruments, each with its article reference and obligated actor: an 8-page PDF quick reference plus a 10-tab tracker workbook with a live dashboard, owner summary and ESPR delegated-act pipeline. Twelve months of updates included.
- Compliance Work-Templates Pack (€49 individual, 1 seat; €149 team, up to 5 seats; DOCX / PPTX / XLSX): Run the compliance project without building the paperwork first. Project plan, RACI, board-reporting deck, and supplier questionnaire.
- The Compliance Toolkit Bundle: Every playbook, kit, template, and the living tracker — at a bundle price. Individual license €499 (1 seat); Team / enterprise license €1,490 (25 seats). All prices in EUR.

## Contact

- Editorial: editor@readpassportbrief.com
- Sponsorship: editor@readpassportbrief.com