Search for “digital product passport deadline” and you will find confident answers ranging from 2024 to 2030 — sometimes within the same article. That is not because the rules are secret. It is because the DPP arrives category by category, each with two different dates, and most write-ups quote whichever one makes the better headline.
This page is the version we wanted to find when we started: every confirmed deadline, every expected one, clearly labelled as such, in one table. We update it as delegated acts are adopted — the “updated” stamp at the top tells you how current it is, so it is worth bookmarking this page rather than the headlines.
How to read a DPP date (most articles get this wrong)
The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation — ESPR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, in force since July 2024 — creates the Digital Product Passport framework in its Articles 9 to 13. But the framework sets no product deadlines itself. Each category gets its own delegated act, which defines exactly what that category’s passport must contain and when it becomes mandatory.
That means every category has two dates, and the difference between them is where most of the confusion comes from:
- Adoption — the year the Commission finalises the category’s delegated act. Nothing becomes mandatory on this date.
- Application — the date companies must actually comply, at least 18 months after adoption. This is the only date that binds you.
One more detail set per category: Article 9 of the ESPR allows passports at model, batch or item level. Each delegated act picks the level for its category, which changes the workload considerably — one passport per product model is a very different job from one per individual item.
The master timeline: every date in one table
“Confirmed” means the date is written into an adopted regulation. “Expected” means it comes from the ESPR Working Plan 2025–2030 and the Commission’s DPP timeline. It is an official planning indication, subject to change. Planned act dates are not product compliance deadlines.
The battery date is an adopted legal obligation. The other rows describe planned dates for acts that still need to define scope, fields and application. For batteries, check the Battery Regulation for the exact covered types; the February 2027 rule does not apply to every battery in every product.
What has already happened
The DPP is sometimes described as if nothing has moved yet. In fact the machinery has been assembling on schedule:
- July 2024 — the ESPR enters into force. Framework only: no product obligations, but the DPP system, the registry and the delegated-act mechanism all become law.
- 16 April 2025 — the Commission adopts the Working Plan 2025–2030, naming the priority categories (iron and steel, textiles, tyres, aluminium, furniture, mattresses) and horizontal ecodesign measures on repairability and recyclability.
- 9 February 2026 — the first-ever ESPR delegated acts are adopted, covering disclosure of unsold-goods destruction. A small measure, but proof the pipeline produces output.
- 20 July 2026 — the EU DPP Registry becomes operational. The registry is infrastructure; its launch does not make every product passport mandatory. We covered it in our registry explainer.
What to watch next
The next twelve months are when “expected” starts turning into “confirmed”. On our watchlist:
- Q3–Q4 2027 (indicative): adoption of the textile, aluminium and tyre acts. Their final texts will define the required passport data and application dates.
- Q4 2026 (indicative): the iron and steel delegated act, potentially the first ESPR product act.
- 2028–2029 (indicative): furniture, mattress and ICT product acts. These remain act dates, with later application.
- Ongoing: the Environmental Omnibus (proposed 10 December 2025) would replace the SCIP chemicals database with the DPP — a consolidation that would make the passport the single reporting channel for substance data. Still a proposal, not law.
We will update this page as acts are published and their dates become legally settled.
What the timeline means for your category
Batteries: act now
The only category where “urgent” is honest. 18 February 2027 is confirmed, unchanged by the omnibus packages, and applies to EV, light-means-of-transport and industrial batteries above 2 kWh. Battery passports are also the first mandatory entries in the new registry. If this is you, the work should already be under way — our battery passport guide covers the required fields.
Textiles and apparel: collect data before the act
The Commission indicates a Q3–Q4 2027 textile act. The final act will set the scope and application date. Collecting composition and supplier evidence now can make that transition easier. Our textile requirements guide tracks what is known so far.
Iron, steel and aluminium: watch the first act closely
Steel is scheduled for an indicative Q4 2026 act, with aluminium scheduled for Q3–Q4 2027. These are B2B categories, so the pressure will arrive through customer requirements as much as through the law — large buyers will want passport data from their suppliers early.
Tyres: watch the 2027 act
The Commission plans the tyre act for Q3–Q4 2027. It will define the eventual obligation and transition. Keep technical documentation organised while the rule is being developed.
Furniture and mattresses: watch 2028
The furniture act is indicated for 2028 and the mattress act for 2029. Neither is a fixed DPP application date. Material and supplier records you keep now can become passport data later. Our furniture DPP page is the one to check back on.
ICT products: planned act, no fixed obligation yet
The Commission indicates a 2029 act for ICT products, but its scope and DPP application date are not fixed. Smartphones and tablets already have separate ecodesign rules. An electronics passport today can serve voluntary transparency; see our electronics page for the distinction.
Footwear and cosmetics: no date, genuinely
Footwear is excluded pending a Commission study due at the end of 2027; cosmetics is a post-2030 discussion. If anyone tells you otherwise, ask them for the regulation number.
How to prepare, whatever your category
The delegated acts will set the fine print, but the core of every Digital Product Passport is already known: product identity with a unique identifier behind a QR code (a public page — no app, no login), materials and substances, durability and repairability information, recycled content, care and end-of-life guidance, and certifications. Data typically has to stay available for the period specified in the applicable category rules, tied to the product's expected lifetime.
Which means the preparation is the same everywhere:
- Get product data into one structured place — a spreadsheet is fine to start. Scattered PDFs and supplier emails are the real enemy.
- Make supplier data part of ordering. Ask for composition, origin and certificates with every purchase order, so the dataset builds itself.
- Treat early passports as marketing, not compliance. A QR code that opens an honest product page is a transparency edge today and a head start later.
And check back here. When the textile proposal publishes, the steel act is adopted, or the Circular Economy Act appears, the table above will say so — with the same rule we always apply: real dates, clearly labelled, no invented urgency.