The registry is live and its rules apply: what changed in 2026

For two years the digital product passport (DPP) was something companies discussed in the future tense. Two dates in 2026 ended that, and it is worth being precise about what they did and did not change.

What happened

The EU DPP Registry had a legal deadline to be operational by 19 July 2026, set in the Ecodesign Regulation, and the Commission opened it on 20 July 2026 with a testing environment, technical documentation and a helpdesk alongside the live system. It is the central indexing system that links each product's unique identifier to the decentralised location of its passport data, and it is designed to connect to the EU customs system for automated information exchange.

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778, which sets out how the registry works and how operators interact with it, was adopted on 16 July 2026 and applies from 6 August 2026.

The same 19 July 2026 date also brought the ban on destroying unsold textiles and footwear for large companies, covered separately in the unsold stock ban.

A third date belongs with them. On 15 July 2026 the Commission cited the first six harmonised DPP standards in the Official Journal through Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736, so the technical rules for identifiers, carriers, exchange, storage, APIs and interoperability are now referenceable rather than in draft. The two security standards follow, as the harmonised standards sets out.

What this does not mean

It does not mean the passport is mandatory for your product.

This is the single most common misreading, and it produces both false alarm and false comfort. The registry going live is infrastructure, not an obligation on products. A product needs a passport when its delegated act, or a sector law like the Battery Regulation, requires one. Batteries are first, from 18 February 2027. Everything else arrives category by category, in phases from 2027.

So the correct summary of 2026 is that the machinery now exists and the rules for using it apply. The obligations for most product groups are still ahead.

What it does mean

Three things change in practice.

The mechanism is no longer theoretical. Registration, identifier structures and access rules are written down in an implementing regulation you can read, rather than being anticipated. Plans can be built against text.

The administrative path has a lead time you can measure. Operator verification, described in registration starts with the company, is a real process with a real queue, and it now sits on the critical path for anyone facing the 2027 battery deadline.

Customers and procurement teams can start asking. Once the registry exists, "are you DPP ready" becomes a question a buyer can put in a questionnaire, well before any regulator is involved. That is the practical route by which the deadline arrives early for suppliers.

Where to spend the time before your act lands

If your products fall under the battery rules, the verification track should already be moving. If they do not, use the period before your category's delegated act to do the part that does not depend on the final field list: find out what your suppliers can evidence, and name the person accountable for the answer.

Sources

• Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR): registry operational deadline 19 July 2026; Article 22 unsold
• stock ban.
• Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778: adopted 16 July 2026, applies from 6 August 2026 per
• Article 24.
• European Commission, *The Digital Product Passport Registry is now live*, 20 July 2026.
• Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736 of 15 July 2026 citing the first six harmonised
• DPP standards.
• Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (Battery Regulation).