DPP Guide — Definition Pages
What Is a Digital Product Passport?
The foundational concepts every garment-exporting factory must understand before the 2028 deadline — wherever in the world your production lines run.
Written by the DPPLive Team · Last updated: 21 October 2026
Definition 01
What is a Digital Product Passport (DPP)?
A DPP is a structured digital record permanently linked to a physical product via a QR code on the care label. It stores mandatory sustainability, material, and compliance data required by EU law.
When anyone scans the QR code — a consumer, EU buyer, customs officer, or recycler — they access the full passport: fiber breakdown, carbon footprint, chemical declarations, care symbols, and recycling guidance. No DPP = no EU market access once the textile rules apply (expected 2028–29).
When anyone scans the QR code — a consumer, EU buyer, customs officer, or recycler — they access the full passport: fiber breakdown, carbon footprint, chemical declarations, care symbols, and recycling guidance. No DPP = no EU market access once the textile rules apply (expected 2028–29).
Definition 02
What is EU ESPR Regulation 2024/1781?
The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), entered into force July 18, 2024. It replaces the old Ecodesign Directive and lets the EU require DPPs, product group by product group, for most physical products sold in the EU market.
ESPR is the legal foundation. It defines who must comply, what data the DPP must contain, how it must be accessed (QR code on the product), and how non-compliance is enforced. Textiles and garments are in the very first priority wave.
ESPR is the legal foundation. It defines who must comply, what data the DPP must contain, how it must be accessed (QR code on the product), and how non-compliance is enforced. Textiles and garments are in the very first priority wave.
Definition 03
Who needs a DPP — Manufacturer, Importer or Brand?
ESPR places formal obligation on the economic operator placing the product on the EU market — typically the EU importer or brand. However, they receive all data from the factory. In practice, every export factory supplying EU buyers — in Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, China, Türkiye or anywhere else — must provide DPP-compliant data, or risk losing EU supply relationships.
Under ESPR Art. 2(32), the brand or importer can authorise a DPP service provider (like DPPLive) to host the passport, built from your factory's data.
Under ESPR Art. 2(32), the brand or importer can authorise a DPP service provider (like DPPLive) to host the passport, built from your factory's data.
Definition 04
What data must a textile DPP contain?
The textile delegated act will set the list. Based on the ESPR framework and industry consultation, expected textile DPP data includes: fiber composition (%), country of origin, carbon footprint (kg CO₂eq + measurement method), care instructions (ISO 3758 symbols), recycled content %, repairability score, substances-of-concern (SVHC) information, GTIN/UPID/EOID/Facility ID identifiers, and supply chain traceability data.
Our platform captures all of these today.
Our platform captures all of these today.
What is a DPP label?
There is no separate “DPP label” in EU law. What people call the DPP label is the data carrier — in practice a QR code — that links the product to its online passport through its unique product identifier. ESPR lets the carrier sit on the product, its packaging or accompanying documents (Article 10(1)(b)) but asks for the product itself where possible (recital 37). For a garment that means a QR woven or printed on the permanent care label, next to the wash symbols, readable for the garment's life; the textile delegated act will set the final details. The QR is added to the label — it does not replace the information the label already has to carry. Where the QR goes and how to print it →
See one before you build one
A Sample Digital Product Passport
This is what a finished textile DPP actually contains — every field below is mandatory or expected under ESPR 2024/1781 and the draft Textile Delegated Act. The left side is the product's permanent identity; the right side is the data your buyer, EU customs and recyclers will read.
👕
Men's Crew-Neck T-Shirt
Example Apparel Ltd. · Gazipur, Bangladesh
GTIN (01) 08944001234567
Serial (21) A00042
EOID EO-BD-2026-04471
Facility FAC-BD-DHK-0117
dpplive.com/01/08944001234567/21/A00042
Serial (21) A00042
EOID EO-BD-2026-04471
Facility FAC-BD-DHK-0117
dpplive.com/01/08944001234567/21/A00042
Scan → opens the live DPPLive demo
Fibre composition
60% organic cotton (GOTS) · 38% recycled polyester (GRS) · 2% elastane
Carbon footprint
4.9 kg CO₂e cradle-to-gate · method: ISO 14067
Chemical compliance
REACH Art. 33 — no SVHC above 0.1% w/w (latest ECHA Candidate List)
Care instructions (ISO 3758)
Wash 30 °C · do not bleach · tumble dry low · iron ≤ 110 °C
Circularity
Recycled content 38% · repairability 7.5/10 · take-back programme: yes
Traceability
Spinning: Chattogram BD → Dyeing: Gazipur BD → Sewing: Gazipur BD
Status
Registry-ready — EU Central Registry live since 20 July 2026 (Art. 13)Data carrier: GS1 Digital Link QR (Art. 10(1)(b))Identifiers per Art. 10(1)(a) and 12
Illustrative sample — company, identifiers and values are fictional. Scan the QR (or open the demo) to click through a live passport.
QR → data, end to end
How a DPP Works in 60 Seconds
01
Factory enters product data
Fibre %, chemicals, carbon, care, suppliers — once per product model, in English, বাংলা, Tiếng Việt or 中文. Most fields come straight from documents you already keep for buyers.
02
Platform builds the passport
Data is validated against the 20 ESPR fields and the 8 CEN/CENELEC standards (EN 18216–18246), then prepared for the EU Central Registry (Art. 13).
03
QR goes on the care label
One GS1 Digital Link QR per model, batch or item (Art. 9(2)(d)) — on the care label where possible, or on packaging or accompanying documents (Art. 10(1)(b)), wash-proof for the garment's life.
04
Anyone scans, each sees their view
Consumers see care & origin; EU customs verify compliance at the border; buyers audit data; recyclers read material breakdown — access rights per EN 18239.
Not the same thing
DPP vs Care Label
| Care label | Digital Product Passport | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Printed fabric label sewn into the garment | Digital record reached by scanning a QR code on that label |
| Required by | EU Textile Labelling Regulation 1007/2011 | ESPR — Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, Articles 9–13 |
| Data it holds | Fibre content + ~5 care symbols | 20+ fields: identifiers, carbon footprint, chemicals, circularity, traceability |
| Who reads it | The consumer | Consumer, EU buyer, customs, market surveillance, recycler — each with their own view |
| Can it change? | Fixed the day it is printed | Living record — can be updated (e.g. repair events) for the product's lifetime |
| If it's missing | Fines under labelling rules | No EU market access once the Textile Delegated Act applies (2028–29) |
The short version: the care label tells you how to wash a garment. The DPP tells you what it is, where it came from, what it emitted, and where it goes when its life ends. From 2028–29 the two work together — the care label carries the QR code, the passport carries everything else.
DPP Requirements for Bangladesh RMG
How Bangladesh Garment Factories
Should Prepare for DPP
01 · Tier 1
Garment Factories Supplying EU Brands
Factories directly supplying EU brands such as H&M, Zara, Primark or C&A will be asked for DPP data for every product model. This includes full fiber composition, carbon data, REACH chemical declarations, and care symbols — linked to a permanent QR code on each garment's care label.
Most urgent · Start now
02 · BGMEA/BKMEA
All 4,500+ Registered Exporter Factories
Every BGMEA member factory that exports to the EU is affected through its buyers. DPPLive is built in Bangladesh and works in Bangla, designed from the factory side, not the brand side.
All EU exporters
03 · Upstream
Fabric Mills, Yarn Spinners & Dyehouses
As DPP compliance cascades upstream, Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers will need to provide material provenance, chemical information, and environmental data to their garment factory customers. Early adoption = supply chain advantage.
Prepare now · 2027+