Still waiting to start with DPPs? The EU just announced the next step.

The EU just published a new DPP Registry draft. Here’s what SMEs should know and stop waiting.

Over the past year, we’ve heard the same thing from many brands and manufacturers: “We’ll start working on Digital Product Passports once the rules become clearer.”

Fair enough.

The ESPR and DPP landscape has been evolving fast, and many companies didn’t want to invest too early in the wrong approach.

But with the publication of the new EU draft on the future DPP Registry, one thing is becoming very clear: the Digital Product Passport is moving from “concept” to actual infrastructure.

And that matters — especially for SMEs.

So… what is this “DPP Registry” exactly?

The European Commission is building a central system connected to all future Digital Product Passports in Europe. But contrary to what many people think, the EU will not host all product data itself.

Instead, the registry will:

• register products and their unique identifiers,
• verify who is allowed to upload or update information,
• connect to Digital Product Passport providers,
• and ensure everything works together across Europe.

In plain language:

The EU is building the “traffic control system” for Digital Product Passports.

And companies will need to plug into it.

What many SMEs still don’t realise

The new draft makes something very important explicit:

If your company places products on the European market, you will likely become what the regulation calls a “verified economic operator.”

That means companies will need to: identify themselves formally in the EU system, go through a verification process, obtain verified access rights, register Digital Product Passports in the registry and maintain and ensure that all information provided is correct.

In practice, this is much more than simply generating a QR code.

For many SMEs, this starts to look less like “marketing” and more like compliance infrastructure.

The good news: you do not need to do everything yourself

An important nuance in the draft is that companies remain legally responsible for their DPPs — but they are allowed to work with third parties.

The regulation explicitly recognises Digital Product Passport service providers and even foresees links in the registry to backup copies hosted by those providers.

In other words:

SMEs will not need to build or manage this infrastructure internally.

Companies like Quifactum can support businesses with:

• DPP registration,
• data structuring,
• interoperability,
• hosting,
• supplier onboarding,
• compliance workflows,
• and future integration with the EU registry.

The responsibility remains with the economic operator — but the operational work can absolutely be supported or outsourced.

And honestly, for many SMEs, that will probably be the most realistic path.

Why this matters now

Until recently, many companies still saw the DPP as, a QR code, a product page, a future marketing tool or… something for the future that didn’t have to worry about, or that their ERP, LCAor PLM system would cover.

This draft shows it’s becoming much bigger than that.

The future DPP ecosystem will revolve around: structured product data, traceability, interoperability, versioning, supplier collaboration, and compliance.

That means the real challenge is no longer:

“How do I display information?”

The real challenge becomes:

“Can my company reliably manage and structure product data?”

And honestly: for many SMEs, that work has not started yet.

The biggest misconception right now

Many businesses are still waiting for “the final list of mandatory fields”.

But that’s not the smartest place to start.

Because by the time those sector-specific rules arrive, companies will still need to:

• organize product information,
• align suppliers,
• clean up data,
• connect systems, define identifiers
• and set up internal processes.

That takes time.

Especially in sectors like textiles, workwear, PPE and manufacturing, where data often sits across ERP, PLM and PIM systems, spreadsheets, suppliers, product sheets, certifications, PDF, Emails… and even manual notes

So, what should SMEs do now?

Not panic.

But definitely stop postponing everything.

You do not need to have a fully operational DPP tomorrow.

But you should absolutely start with:

• mapping your product data,
• understanding what information already exists,
• identifying missing data,
• reviewing traceability,
• and understanding how your company will eventually connect to the future DPP ecosystem.

The companies that start now will have room to build gradually.

The companies that wait for “full clarity” will likely end up in catch-up mode once deadlines become real.

Where Quifactum comes in

At Quifactum, we see many companies struggling with the same question:

“Where do we even begin?”

That’s exactly the point where we help.

Not by selling “a QR code platform”, but by helping companies prepare for what the DPP is becoming:

• a compliance framework
• a data challenge,
• and a long-term digital infrastructure.

We help brands and manufacturers:

• understand what’s coming,
• prepare for verified economic operator requirements,
• structure their product data,
• register and manage DPPs
• and avoid expensive wrong turns.

Because the companies that will succeed with DPPs are probably not the ones who wait for perfect clarity. They are the ones who start preparing before the pressure hits.