Last verified: September 18, 2026.
The first hard date for the Digital Product Passport (DPP) is February 18, 2027, for batteries. Two more are confirmed in law: detergents in 2029 and toys in 2030. Every passport date under the EU’s Ecodesign Regulation (ESPR) is still an estimate, starting with iron and steel around 2028. Norway follows through the EEA Agreement.
Your sales director forwards a conference slide: “Textiles: DPP mandatory 2027.” A software vendor’s newsletter says 2028. The European Commission’s own page says the third or fourth quarter of 2027.
Nobody is making the dates up. They are reading different columns of the same table. The Commission’s column is headed “indicative timeline for adoption”, which is when the Commission expects to adopt the rules. The date you have to comply comes close to two years later, and many timelines online have quietly relabeled one as the other.
We know how easy the mistake is, because we made versions of it ourselves. This article started as an internal audit. We checked every date in our own articles and pages against the primary sources, and several had drifted. What follows is the list we now maintain, with one rule applied throughout: a confirmed date and an estimate never get to look the same.
How should you read a DPP date?
Every date in this article carries one of three labels.
Confirmed means the date is written into an adopted legal act, or the event has already happened.
Estimate means it rests on the Commission’s indicative timing or on our calculation from it, and it never comes as an exact day.
Not set means no date exists, and we do not invent one.
The estimates follow a fixed route. For product groups regulated through ESPR, the passport duty arrives in a delegated act, and the regulation itself prescribes the steps from adoption to application:
- The Commission adopts the delegated act. This is the date in the Commission’s tables.
- The European Parliament and the Council have two months to object, and either of them can extend that by two more.
- The act is published in the Official Journal and enters into force.
- The application date cannot be earlier than 18 months after entry into force, except in duly justified cases.
Run the numbers and an act adopted in late 2026 applies in 2028. An act adopted in late 2027 applies in 2029 at the earliest. The Commission says as much in a footnote to its own DPP timeline: after adoption, economic operators get a transition period of at least 18 months.
When an act is adopted and its text sets the real date, we replace the estimate and change the label to confirmed. Batteries, detergents, toys, and construction products follow their own regulations with their own clocks, and they are covered further down.
What has already happened?
The system side of the passport is largely in place. All eight European standards are published, six of them are cited in the Official Journal, the rules for the EU registry are in force, and the registry itself is open with a test environment. None of this obliges anyone to register a product yet.
| Date | What happened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| July 18, 2024 | ESPR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, enters into force. The passport is regulated in Articles 9 to 13 | Confirmed |
| April 16, 2025 | The Commission’s working plan for 2025 to 2030 names the first ESPR product groups: iron and steel, aluminium, textiles and apparel, furniture, tyres, and mattresses | Confirmed |
| February 9, 2026 | The Commission adopts the acts that detail the ban on destroying unsold apparel and footwear, among the first measures under ESPR. They do not involve a passport | Confirmed |
| May 27, 2026 | CEN and CENELEC publish the first six passport standards: EN 18216, 18219, 18220, 18221, 18222, and 18223 | Confirmed |
| July 15, 2026 | The six standards are cited in the Official Journal through Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736 | Confirmed |
| July 17, 2026 | The registry rules, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778, are published. They enter into force on August 6, 2026 | Confirmed |
| July 20, 2026 | The EU registry opens, together with a test environment, documentation, and a help desk | Confirmed |
| August 21, 2026 | The Commission publishes guidance that sorts the 71 data points of the battery passport by battery category | Confirmed |
| September 16, 2026 | CEN and CENELEC publish the last two standards: EN 18239 on access rights, security, and business confidentiality, and EN 18246 on data authentication, reliability, and integrity | Confirmed |
| Autumn 2026 | EN 18239 and EN 18246 are expected to be cited in the Official Journal. The Commission’s page says September 2026. As of September 18 it has not happened | Estimate |
Two entries are misread more often than the rest.
The standards describe how a passport is identified, carried, stored, exchanged, secured, and verified. They do not say what a textile or furniture passport must contain. The Official Journal citation gives presumption of conformity with ESPR’s requirements for the passport system, Articles 10 and 11, and that is all it gives. A provider who claims “ESPR compliance” on the strength of the standards is claiming more than the citation covers. We went through that distinction in DPP in Mid-2026.
The registry date is the other one. July 19, 2026, was the deadline ESPR gave the Commission for setting the registry up. The Commission launched the registry on July 20, together with a testing environment, and the launch created no duty for anyone. As of September 18, 2026, a company can enroll its organization in the registry itself, and the separate testing environment lets it try the registration workflows without affecting live data. The Commission’s pages do not say whether passports can already be registered in the live registry, and no product group has to before February 18, 2027, the date the Commission’s own announcement names as the first implementation deadline, for large batteries. What the registry stores, and who has to be verified before using it, is covered in The EU DPP Registry and eIDAS and the EU DPP Registry.
When do you need a passport, product group by product group?
Three passport dates are fixed in law today: batteries on February 18, 2027, detergents on September 23, 2029, and toys on August 1, 2030. All three come from sector regulations. ESPR itself has not yet produced a single confirmed passport date. Its first will be iron and steel, expected around 2028.
| Product group | Legal basis | Where the act stands | Passport required from | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batteries: EV, light means of transport, and industrial above 2 kWh | Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 | Adopted in 2023. Content set out in the regulation, Annex XIII | February 18, 2027 | Confirmed |
| Iron and steel | ESPR delegated act | Consultation closed August 12, 2026. Adoption expected Q4 2026 | Around 2028 | Estimate |
| Construction products | Construction Products Regulation (EU) 2024/3110 | Delegated act expected Q2 2027. The duty then applies one product family at a time | From around 2029 | Estimate |
| Textiles (apparel) | ESPR delegated act | Adoption expected Q3 to Q4 2027. Content not set | 2029 at the earliest | Estimate |
| Aluminium | ESPR delegated act | Adoption expected Q3 to Q4 2027 | 2029 at the earliest | Estimate |
| Tyres | ESPR delegated act | Adoption expected Q3 to Q4 2027 | 2029 at the earliest | Estimate |
| Detergents and surfactants | Detergents Regulation (EU) 2026/405 | In force since March 22, 2026 | September 23, 2029 | Confirmed |
| Furniture | ESPR delegated act | Adoption expected 2028 | Around 2030 | Estimate |
| Toys | Toy Safety Regulation (EU) 2025/2509 | In force since January 1, 2026 | August 1, 2030 | Confirmed |
| Mattresses | ESPR delegated act | Adoption expected 2029 | Around 2031 | Estimate |
| Consumer electronics and ICT | ESPR horizontal acts | No passport act scheduled | Not set | Not set |
| Energy-related products | ESPR, one product group at a time | No passport date set so far | Not set | Not set |
Batteries: the one date you can plan backward from
From February 18, 2027, every EV battery, every battery for light means of transport such as e-bikes and e-scooters, and every industrial battery with a capacity above 2 kWh needs a passport of its own. The 2 kWh threshold applies to industrial batteries only. We have seen it stretched to cover all three.
Batteries are also the one group where the content is settled. It is set out in Annex XIII of the Battery Regulation, and the Commission’s guidance of August 21, 2026, shows which of the 71 data points apply to which battery category. The due diligence obligations were postponed from August 18, 2025, to August 18, 2027. The passport date did not move. There is more in our battery overview.
We have mapped the Commission’s 71 data points, per battery category, in our own platform, so a battery maker can see which mandatory points are still missing for a given battery. Talk to us if February 2027 is your date.
Iron and steel: the next estimate to become a date
Iron and steel will be the first passport whose content ESPR sets itself. The consultation closed on August 12, 2026. As of September 18, no draft act has been published for feedback, and the Commission still plans adoption in the fourth quarter of 2026. On the day the act is adopted, the arithmetic above starts running and this row gets a real date. Our iron and steel article covers what the passport is expected to contain.
Construction products: a separate track
Construction passports come from the new Construction Products Regulation (CPR), on a track separate from ESPR. The regulation has applied since January 8, 2026, but it needs a delegated act of its own before any passport system exists. The Commission expects that act in the second quarter of 2027. The duty starts 18 months after the act enters into force, which puts the earliest passports around 2029.
That date is a floor, and it will not arrive for every product at once. The regulation’s obligations on manufacturers, the passport among them, apply to a product family only from one year after the harmonized technical specification for that family is adopted under the new regulation, or later if the act says so. Until then the family stays under the old rules, which run in parallel until 2040 at the latest. A window manufacturer and a cement producer can end up with different passport dates.
One number is worth knowing early. The regulation requires the coming system to stay accessible for 25 years after the last product of a type is placed on the market, and the economic operator to keep the passport available for at least 10 years. If you make construction products, that retention period belongs in your planning now. The chain from CPR to EPD to DPP is unpacked in our guide to the abbreviations.
Textiles, aluminium, and tyres: 2027 is the adoption
This is the row behind the conference slide. The Commission expects to adopt the delegated acts for textiles, aluminium, and tyres in the third or fourth quarter of 2027. Add the objection period and the 18 months, and the duty applies in 2029 at the earliest.
For textiles, the act covers apparel. Footwear is outside it for now, with a separate study due by the end of 2027. The content is not set either. The Joint Research Centre’s study on passport content, dated May 13, 2026, is preparatory work, and a field list sold as final today is a guess. For aluminium, no product group had appeared on the JRC’s Product Bureau and no call for evidence had opened as of August 2026, so we read 2027 as a target more than a plan.
Detergents and toys: confirmed, and outside ESPR
Two dates further out are already confirmed, because they are set in sector regulations. The new Detergents Regulation applies from September 23, 2029. It requires a passport for each product model, with the identifiers uploaded to the same EU registry. The Toy Safety Regulation applies from August 1, 2030. There the passport is created per toy model and replaces the EU declaration of conformity, so it removes a document instead of adding one.
Electronics: there is no date
No passport act for consumer electronics or ICT is scheduled in the current working plan. What is scheduled are two horizontal acts: repairability requirements, expected to be adopted in 2027, and recycled content in electrical and electronic equipment, expected in 2029. The Commission’s DPP page places ICT products under 2029, alongside that recycled content act. Neither year is a passport deadline.
Energy-related products, the legacy of the old Ecodesign Directive, get their ESPR measures one product group at a time, and none of them has a passport date yet. “Electronics 2027” appears in no official source we have found.
What is still to come on the system side?
Four system pieces are still missing: the Official Journal citation of the last two standards, the rules on who may access battery passport data, the national administrators for the registry, and the certification scheme for DPP service providers. Only February 18, 2027, is a confirmed date. Until the certification act exists, nobody can call themselves a certified provider.
| When | What | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Autumn 2026 | Official Journal citation of EN 18239 and EN 18246 | Estimate |
| Q4 2026 | Implementing act on access rights to battery passport data | Estimate |
| February 18, 2027 | Every Member State must have appointed its designated national administrator for the registry. The first registration duty, for batteries, starts the same day | Confirmed |
| 2027 | Delegated act on DPP service providers, including their certification. The Commission’s page lists it under both Q2 and Q3 | Estimate |
| 2028 | Mid-term review of the working plan, where the Commission reassesses product groups it left out in 2025 | Estimate |
| Ongoing | Before a company can register anything, it must become a verified economic operator, which requires an eIDAS credential. The status lasts no longer than three years | Confirmed |
One date on many timelines is not regulation at all. GS1’s Sunrise 2027 is an industry ambition that retail checkouts should be able to read 2D codes such as QR by the end of 2027. It matters if your products are scanned at a checkout. It has no legal force, and linear barcodes are not going away.
What applies in Norway?
The passport becomes mandatory in the EU first. In Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein it applies once each act is incorporated into the EEA Agreement and implemented in national law. As of September 18, 2026, ESPR, the Battery Regulation, and the registry rules are all still under scrutiny, and no date is set.
You will often read that passports become mandatory “in the EU and EFTA.” That is the wrong frame. Switzerland is an EFTA member and is not party to the EEA Agreement, so none of this binds it. The right frame is the EU first, then the EEA.
| Act | Status in the EEA and in Norway as of September 18, 2026 |
|---|---|
| ESPR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 | Marked EEA relevant and under scrutiny by Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. No decision by the EEA Joint Committee. Incorporation requires the consent of the Storting, Norway’s parliament. Date not set |
| Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 | Under scrutiny, not incorporated. A new Norwegian battery regulation has been out for consultation three times, most recently in spring 2026 on the passport registry. It is not adopted. Date not set |
| Registry rules, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778 | Under scrutiny, not incorporated. The duty to appoint a national administrator for the registry by February 18, 2027, applies to Norway only on incorporation |
| The passport standards | The first six were published as Norwegian standards (NS-EN) in June 2026. NS-EN 18239 and NS-EN 18246 are announced for 2026 |
Norway has prepared the ground. A framework act on sustainable products and value chains (our translation, as the act has no official English title) has been in force since July 1, 2024, and ESPR is meant to be implemented through it. Responsibility lies with the Ministry of Climate and Environment, with the Norwegian Environment Agency (Miljødirektoratet) as its agency, while the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) keeps the energy efficiency requirements. No market surveillance authority has been formally designated for ESPR yet. Standard Norge has published SN/GDN 18216:2026, an English-language guide to the passport standards that is free after registration.
None of this lets an exporter wait. If you sell into the EU, the EU dates apply to you from day one, regardless of when Norway incorporates the rules into the EEA Agreement. The EEA track shows when the duties also apply to products sold only in Norway. For a Norwegian manufacturer with customers in Sweden or Germany, the row that counts is the EU one.
Which dates should you stop repeating?
Seven claims account for most of the wrong DPP dates we meet. Some present an adoption estimate as a compliance deadline, and others come from tables that predate the 2025 working plan. Each is listed below with what the sources say.
| You will see | What the sources say |
|---|---|
| “Mandatory across the EU and EFTA” | The EU first, then the EEA as each act is incorporated. Switzerland is an EFTA member and is not bound |
| “The registry opens July 19, 2026” | July 19 was the Commission’s legal deadline. The registry opened on July 20 |
| “Textiles 2027” | 2027 is the expected adoption of the act for apparel. The duty follows in 2029 at the earliest |
| “Electronics 2027” or “ICT 2029” | These are expected adoption years for horizontal acts on repairability and recycled content. No passport act for electronics is scheduled |
| “Cosmetics 2026” or “detergents end of 2025” | Cosmetics appear nowhere in the working plan. Detergents got their own regulation, which applies from September 23, 2029 |
| “Certified DPP service provider” | The act that creates the certification is expected in 2027. Until then the label does not exist |
| An exact day for an estimated duty, such as “January 1, 2028” | No such day exists until the act is adopted and published |
Related dates that are real, but are not passport dates
Customers ask about these in the same breath, so they are worth keeping apart.
| Date | What it is |
|---|---|
| July 19, 2026 | The ban on destroying unsold apparel, clothing accessories, and footwear starts for large enterprises. Medium-sized enterprises follow on July 19, 2030. Micro and small enterprises are exempt |
| August 12, 2026 | The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) applies, with a declaration of conformity and technical documentation per packaging type. It requires no passport of its own. Where a product already has one, the packaging information is meant to go into it |
| August 18, 2027 | Due diligence obligations for batteries, postponed from August 18, 2025 |
What should you do with this timeline?
Find your row and read the label. A confirmed date is something to plan backward from. An estimate tells you when the clock is likely to start, and what you can prepare before it does. A row marked not set means nobody can sell you a deadline. Exporters in Norway use the EU row.
If your date is confirmed, work backward from it. For batteries that is five months from the day we publish this. Your company has to become a verified economic operator, which requires an eIDAS credential, before it can register anything. Your systems have to be tested against the registry, and the data has to exist for each individual battery. All of that has to fit inside those months.
If your date is an estimate, watch for the adoption. From that day you have a little under two years, and the adopted text will tell you what goes in the passport. The work that does not depend on that text can start now: knowing which product data you have and at what level, where it lives, and who owns the identifiers and the domain your codes will point to. Our practical guide and the seven integration scenarios cover that ground, and Choosing a DPP Provider lists the questions to ask before you sign with anyone.
If your row says not set, treat any deadline you are offered as a sales argument.
We re-verify this page whenever a date moves, and the date at the top shows when we last did.
FAQ
Sources
All sources are public. EU legal texts are linked through EUR-Lex.
- ESPR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781
- Ecodesign working plan 2025 to 2030, COM(2025) 187
- Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 and Regulation (EU) 2025/1561 on the due diligence dates
- Construction Products Regulation (EU) 2024/3110
- Toy Safety Regulation (EU) 2025/2509
- Detergents Regulation (EU) 2026/405
- Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778 on the registry
- Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736 on the harmonized standards
- European Commission: Digital Product Passport page with the indicative timeline, registry launch, July 20, 2026, battery passport guidance, August 21, 2026, rules on unsold apparel and footwear, February 9, 2026
- CEN-CENELEC: the first six standards and their citation, and the CEN-CENELEC catalog entries for EN 18239:2026 and EN 18246:2026
- EFTA EEA-Lex: ESPR, Battery Regulation, registry rules, and the EFTA states
- Norway: the act on sustainable products and value chains (Lovdata), the government’s EEA note on ESPR, the Norwegian Environment Agency’s consultation on the battery regulation, and Standard Norge on the passport standards
- GS1: 2D barcodes at retail point of sale
Not sure which row your products fall under, or what an estimate means for your planning? Get in touch. We will tell you which act covers your products, what is confirmed, and what you can prepare before the rest is. Both DPPA founders are members of SN/K 624 at Standard Norge, of CEN-CLC/JTC 24, and of ISO/IEC JTC 5, the national, European, and global committees that work on the passport standards.
Let’s make your products future-proof, together.
Reach out to us at contact@dppa.no
Or learn more about how the platform works below.
