The business hosts it, not the EU. A Digital Product Passport (DPP) can sit on the company’s own systems or with a DPP service provider it hires. What the Ecodesign Regulation does require is a back-up copy held by an independent service provider, so the passport survives if the company does not.
Does the EU keep a copy?
No. The EU passport registry is only an index. It stores identifiers and a reference to the service provider, not the passport. In the Commission’s words, “The DPP Registry does not store the full DPP data.”
What does a service provider do?
It hosts or processes the passport data for the business placing the product on the market. Customers, repairers, authorities and others then reach what they are entitled to see. It may not sell or reuse the data for its own purposes without the business’s agreement.
So is a service provider required?
For the back-up, yes. The main passport can stay in-house, but the back-up has to be made available through an independent provider when the product goes on the market. That way the passport is still there after an insolvency, a liquidation or the company leaving the EU market. For goods made outside the EU, the importer must make sure both the passport and the back-up are in place.
The toy and detergent laws have the same back-up rule, from 1 August 2030 and 23 September 2029. The battery law does not; it simply requires the battery passport to stay available after the business is gone.
Can any provider be used?
For now, yes, as long as it is independent. The Commission may set requirements for providers, possibly with certification, and plans that work for late 2026 or 2027. The registry will list verified providers, but no list existed as of October 2026. Whether a company in the same group counts as independent is not yet settled.
Where this comes from: Ecodesign Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, Articles 2, 10, 11 and 29 and recital 38; Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778, Articles 3 and 19; Toy Safety Regulation Articles 19 and 20; Detergents Regulation Articles 21 and 22; Battery Regulation Article 78; DPP Registry user guide v1.03.