The terms get used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. The battery passport comes from the Batteries Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 and has a fixed date: 18 February 2027. The digital product passport under ESPR (EU) 2024/1781 is a framework that reaches product groups one delegated act at a time, starting with iron & steel and textiles. Think of the battery passport as the first, fully specified member of the DPP family — the template everything else will resemble.
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Both instruments answer the same question — what is this product, what is it made of, and what happens to it at end of life — as a structured digital record attached to the physical product. The difference is how they arrive. The battery passport sits inside a complete, sector-specific regulation: (EU) 2023/1542, Article 77, with scope and deadline written into the law itself. The ESPR DPP sits inside a framework regulation, (EU) 2024/1781 (in force since July 2024), that defines the machinery but leaves each product group's requirements and timing to a delegated act. One is a finished rulebook; the other is a rulebook factory.
The family resemblance is deliberate. Both rely on a data carrier on the product — GS1 Digital Link QR codes or Data Matrix — resolving to a structured record. Both put responsibility on the economic operator placing the product on the EU market, which catches importers of finished goods, not just manufacturers. Both demand the record stay accessible for the product's regulated lifetime — up to 15 years, which means custody and backup, not a PDF on a web server. And the shared infrastructure is arriving: the EU DPP Registry opens for registration on 19 July 2026. Enforcement follows the same pattern too — customs can detain non-compliant goods, and member states set the penalties.
Many companies will face both regimes: an equipment maker with a >2 kWh battery inside an ESPR-relevant product, a mobility brand selling accessories and apparel, a steel-using manufacturer with battery-powered lines. Running two compliance stacks doubles the cost of what is fundamentally one discipline — structured, verifiable, maintained product data. PassPer builds battery passports for the 2027 deadline today — AI extraction from the spec sheets and declarations you already hold, human review, eIDAS qualified sealing (QTSP onboarding), GS1 Digital Link QR, registry filing on EU-sovereign hosting — and the same foundation extends to ESPR product groups as their delegated acts land. Start with the free readiness check or the 2026 compliance guide.
Count down to 18 February 2027 and work backwards to when each step has to start for your SKU count.
Take the 2-minute readiness check, watch the 10-minute interactive walkthrough, or download the full 2026 compliance guide. No account needed.