Digital Product Passport (DPP): the digital passport that gives products a transparent, trusted and sustainable Identity
The Regulatory Framework: a new era for product traceability
The European Union is introducing one of the most innovative tools for the circular economy: the Digital Product Passport (DPP), a digital identity designed for products.
The DPP is legally grounded in Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which provides for the gradual introduction of a digital identity for products placed on the European market. Its purpose is to make reliable, structured and accessible information available throughout a product’s entire lifecycle, from manufacturing and reuse to maintenance and recycling.
Through the DPP, manufacturers, distributors, consumers, repairers, recyclers and public authorities will be able to access information such as:
- product and material origin;
- composition and substances used;
- environmental and sustainability information;
- repairability and maintenance data;
- reuse and recycling instructions;
- regulatory compliance information.
The DPP has two key objectives:
- support the transition to a circular economy by increasing supply chain transparency;
- combat fraud, greenwashing and information asymmetry by ensuring the availability of reliable and verifiable data.
Over the coming years, the DPP will be progressively introduced across several industries, starting with batteries and later expanding to sectors such as textiles, electronics, construction, steel and other manufacturing industries.
The DPP as a guarantee of authenticity, integrity and legal accountability
The value of the Digital Product Passport ultimately depends on one essential factor: trust.
If a digital passport contains information about the origin of a component, the percentage of recycled material or the environmental characteristics of a product, it must be possible to demonstrate:
- who generated that information;
- that the data has not been altered after its creation;
- that the information can be unequivocally attributed to the responsible organization.
In other words, the DPP cannot simply collect data: it must guarantee authenticity, integrity and legal accountability.
This is precisely where Qualified Electronic Seals (QSeals) come into play.
What are Qualified Electronic Seals?
A Qualified Electronic Seal (QSeal) is a trust service regulated by the European eIDAS Regulation.
Unlike a Qualified Electronic Signature, which identifies a natural person, a Qualified Electronic Seal identifies a legal entity, such as a company, public body or organization.
It can be considered the digital equivalent of a corporate stamp, but with significantly enhanced capabilities:
- it guarantees the origin of the information;
- it ensures the integrity of the document or dataset;
- it makes any subsequent modification immediately detectable;
- it has legal validity recognized throughout the European Union.
When an organization applies a Qualified Electronic Seal to a document or dataset, anyone can verify that the information genuinely originates from the stated organization and has not been modified since it was issued.
Why choose a QTSP such as Intesi Group?
Within the Digital Product Passport ecosystem, applying an electronic seal alone is not enough. It is essential that the seal is issued by a Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP) operating under strict regulatory oversight and recognized under the eIDAS Regulation.
Working with a QTSP means relying on certificates and processes that provide the highest levels of reliability, security and legal recognition across the European Union. In an ecosystem such as the DPP, where the trustworthiness of information is critical, confidence must be built on solid and verifiable foundations.
As a Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP) specializing in digital trust services, Intesi Group provides the expertise, technologies and European standards-compliant solutions needed to ensure that product-related data remains authentic, intact and verifiable over time. For businesses, this means reducing risk, strengthening regulatory compliance and increasing the confidence of customers, partners and public authorities across the entire digital supply chain.
In short, if the Digital Product Passport is the container of information, the Qualified Electronic Seal issued by a QTSP such as Intesi Group is what certifies its trustworthiness.