The discussion around the Digital Product Passport almost always revolves around deadlines, legal acts and sector plans. For most companies the first real hurdle lies elsewhere, however: their product data is not digital at all - at least not in a way that a passport could be generated from it. It sits in PDF data sheets, in emails from suppliers, in the heads of long-serving staff and in a good dozen Excel files on various drives.
The DPP forces these companies to digitise their product data cleanly for the first time and to bring it together in one place. That is laborious. But it is work that pays off immediately - regardless of when the obligation takes effect for your sector.
The DPP is only the occasion - the problem is older
Anyone who wants to generate a DPP needs, per product, a complete, structured data set: master data, components and materials, origin, environmental indicators. Theoretically this data already exists in almost every company. In practice it is spread across many systems and formats, maintained twice and complete in no single place.
Bringing this data together is the real feat of strength - not generating the passport afterwards. And this feat of strength has a value that has nothing to do with the DPP: fewer errors, faster onboarding of new staff, a single reliable source instead of ten contradictory tables. The digitisation that the DPP forces is a clean-up that was overdue anyway.
Transpareo is first a product-data-management tool
At its core, Transpareo is a tool for managing product data: products, components and materials in a single, structured form. Everything that makes up the DPP - signatures, QR codes, translation into 40 languages - builds on this foundation. No passport without clean product data.
The structure behind it - the property types with which you describe products, components and materials - is fully customisable. You determine which fields your products carry. So that you do not start from scratch, on request we set up in advance the fields relevant to regulation for your product category - a set of property types that already maps the requirements of the EU legal acts. That is an optional starting point, not a corset: you can adopt these fields, adjust them, add to them or define your own.
The flexible importer: from the Excel list to a structured inventory
The hardest part of any data project is getting existing data in at all. That is exactly what the importer is for. It maps your existing files - Excel, CSV, exports from ERP or PLM systems - onto the model.
You deliver the data as it exists today; the importer adapts to your columns, not the other way round.
Before saving, a validator checks every data set and reports what is missing or inconsistent - a missing unit, an inconsistent country code, an empty mandatory entry. So importing becomes a manageable loop: upload, see the gaps, correct, import again. Instead of a big-bang project, a few runs until the inventory stands.
The API: connecting to existing systems - where there are any
Companies with their own IT landscape connect Transpareo to their existing systems via a REST API. Master data from the ERP, bills of materials from the PLM, images from the PIM flow in automatically, and the passports stay in sync without anyone maintaining data twice. How such an integration runs in practice we have described step by step in the API playbook for ERP integration; the complete interface is publicly described in the API documentation.
The same API also ensures that you are never locked in: you retrieve your entire inventory at any time - as CSV, XLSX, JSON-LD and SQL or via the interface itself. What you build today belongs to you and stays portable.
Sensitive product data stays protected
Not every piece of product information is intended for the public. Formulations, complete bills of materials or purchasing terms can be trade secrets - the reflex not to let such data out of your hands is justified. A data inventory is only maintained, after all, if you trust the place it is stored.
That is why Transpareo separates the data strictly by customer: every customer sits in its own, separate database, encrypted with its own key. No shared table in which the products of several companies stand side by side, no key that applies across customer boundaries. Hosting is in Germany - your data stays within the scope of the GDPR. Which details ultimately appear in the public DPP is up to you; everything else stays confidential and sits in isolation.
For many SMEs there is no “existing system” - there is Excel
The assumption that every company runs an ERP misses reality. Many small and medium-sized companies have no PLM, no PIM and no integrated inventory-management system. Their product data lives in Excel lists, perhaps on a shared drive, maintained by one or two people.
For them the question of API integration does not even arise - the importer is the whole story. Upload Excel, map the columns once, done. And exactly here the double gain arises: these companies get real product-data management for the first time - central, searchable, usable by several people, with a single reliable source - and are DPP-ready as a by-product. The benefit for the daily data work justifies the step on its own, long before any obligation takes effect.
Why now, when the obligation is years away
For batteries the DPP applies from February 2027, and that is the only fixed product deadline so far. For the other groups - iron and steel, construction products, packaging, textiles, electronics - the years in circulation are arithmetic on indicative planning dates: the delegated act comes first, and at least 18 months pass between its entry into force and the duty. Our industries reference keeps the state of play per industry. The thought of waiting is close at hand. But that underestimates where the time is lost.
From experience, around 70 per cent of the required fields are present - just spread across ten systems. Bringing these 70 per cent together and procuring the missing 30 per cent costs months, above all where data first has to be requested from suppliers and secured contractually. Anyone who starts today gets this done calmly, instead of rescuing it shortly before a deadline.
The long road is the data work, not generating the passport.
On top of this: you take no risk. The inventory is exportable at any time, and we maintain the regulation-ready field set in step with the regulation. You structure now and refine later - the effort is not lost if details of the legal acts still change.
DPPs before the obligation: an innovation signal and customer trust
Once the data inventory is built, the passport itself is the simple final step - a press of a button. This opens up a possibility that many overlook: you can issue DPPs before you are legally obliged to.
A passport before the obligation is a signal. It shows that a company takes transparency and sustainability seriously while the competition is still discussing deadlines. And because the data is signed and verifiable in the browser, behind the signal stands a verifiable data set instead of an advertising promise. How a DPP can be used beyond its mere compliance character as a touchpoint with customers, we have described in From compliance document to marketing tool.
One condition always applies: real data. An early DPP only works as long as it holds what it shows - greenwashing is exposed faster with verifiable passports than with a glossy brochure.
Conclusion
The DPP is the occasion, but the lasting gain is a digitised, consolidated product-data inventory. Transpareo makes the import easy, connects via API to existing systems where there are any, and replaces the Excel muddle where there are none. Start with the data - then the DPP becomes a tick that you set whenever the deadline comes. Or earlier, if you want to secure the head start.
Questions on this article
Where do I start when the product data sits in PDFs, emails and a dozen spreadsheets?
With the spreadsheets, because they already have a structure. Export what you have, import it, and let the validator tell you which fields are missing rather than deciding that in advance. The PDFs and the supplier emails are the slow half, and they get faster once there is a structure to file them into. Designing the perfect data model first is the reliable way to spend six months before the first record exists.
What if we have no ERP, PIM or PLM at all?
Then the question of an integration does not arise and the importer is the whole story. Upload the spreadsheet, map the columns once, and you have a central, searchable inventory that several people can work in - for many small and medium-sized companies the first real product-data management they have had. The passport falls out of it as a by-product, and the benefit for the daily work justifies the step on its own, long before any obligation applies.
Which formats does the import take, and do I have to reshape my files first?
Excel, CSV, ODS and JSON, and no. The importer adapts to your columns instead of asking you for a template, and products, components and materials can arrive in a single run with their relationships intact. Imports are repeatable, so the same file with a fresh export from your system updates the records rather than duplicating them.
Does the data have to be clean before the first import?
No, and waiting for clean data is the most common way to lose a year. Before anything is saved, a validator checks every record and reports what is missing or inconsistent - a missing unit, an inconsistent country code, an empty mandatory entry. That turns the work into a loop of upload, read the gaps, correct, import again, and the gaps become a work list for purchasing instead of a vague feeling that the data is not ready.
What happens to formulations and bills of materials that are trade secrets?
They stay confidential, and you decide field by field what the public passport shows. Every customer sits in its own database, encrypted with its own key, so there is no shared table holding the products of several companies and no key that spans customers. Hosting is in Germany, within the scope of the GDPR, and a data processing agreement is included. Nothing reaches the public passport because it exists in your inventory - it reaches it because you released that field.
Can I get everything back out again?
Yes, at any time, as CSV, XLSX, JSON-LD and SQL or through the same REST API that connects ERP, PIM and CRM. That is the test to put to any provider - an inventory you cannot export is a dependency, not an asset. What you build stays yours and stays portable.
Why start now when my sector's deadline is years away?
Because the data is the long road, not the passport. The only fixed date so far is the battery one, 18 February 2027 under the Batteries Regulation. For the ESPR product groups the working plan of 16 April 2025 names indicative years for the delegated acts, and Art. 4(4) of the ESPR then leaves at least 18 months between an act entering into force and its application, so those years are expectations rather than deadlines. Around 70 per cent of the required fields already sit somewhere in the company; assembling them and sourcing the missing 30 per cent takes months, above all where a supplier has to be asked and a contract clause negotiated.
May I publish a passport before it is mandatory?
Yes. Nothing stands in the way of a voluntary passport, and once the inventory stands, the passport is the short step. It is a credible signal precisely because the data is signed and verifiable in the browser rather than asserted in a brochure. One condition applies throughout - the data has to be real, because a verifiable passport exposes an embellished claim faster than a glossy brochure ever did.
