Eight European standards now describe how a Digital Product Passport (DPP) should work, from the identifier on the product to how data is stored and shared. Six of them were cited by the EU on 15 July 2026. A passport built to those six is presumed to meet the Ecodesign Regulation’s passport rules on the points they cover.
What do the eight standards cover?
| Standard | What it covers | Cited by the EU |
|---|---|---|
| EN 18216 | Exchanging passport data | 15 July 2026 |
| EN 18219 | Unique identifiers | 15 July 2026 |
| EN 18220 | Data carriers such as QR codes | 15 July 2026 |
| EN 18221 | Storing and archiving data | 15 July 2026 |
| EN 18222 | Software interfaces (APIs) | 15 July 2026 |
| EN 18223 | Making systems work together | 15 July 2026 |
| EN 18239 | Access rights, security and business confidentiality | Not yet |
| EN 18246 | Authenticity and integrity of data | Not yet |
Is following them compulsory?
No. The standards are voluntary. Their value is that a passport built to a cited standard is presumed to comply, so an authority starts from that assumption on the points the standard covers. A business can meet the rules another way, but then has to show it. The two standards not yet cited give no such presumption; the Commission expects to decide on them in November 2026.
Who wrote them?
The Commission asked the European standards bodies CEN, CENELEC and ETSI for them in 2024, and the EU’s citation decision credits those three with the six cited standards. All eight appear on the published list of CEN and CENELEC’s joint technical committee on passports. National standards bodies sell the texts.
Where do they matter in practice?
The new toy and detergent laws require their identifiers and carriers to follow the same standards. The EU passport registry already asks for the product identifier as a web address that follows them. Older ISO/IEC 15459 identifiers are still named in the Ecodesign Regulation, so a passport specification should record which standard each identifier and carrier follows.
Where this comes from: Ecodesign Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, Articles 10 to 12 and 41 and Annex III; Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736; standardisation request M/604; Toy Safety Regulation Article 21; Detergents Regulation Article 23; DPP Registry user guide v1.03.