Does the digital product passport apply to my aluminium?

What you must concretely do

What is expected of you

The ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) is a framework regulation. This means that Article 1 sets out the scope broadly — in principle, almost all physical products can fall within it — but the regulation itself does not yet specify which product is subject to requirements when. That specification comes per product group in a delegated act. For aluminium semi-finished products, that act does not yet exist. What is currently expected of a company therefore falls into two parts: what the law prescribes in general terms, and what there is to do in practice as long as product-specific rules are still lacking.

Determining whether your product falls within the scope

Article 1 of the ESPR describes which product categories are eligible for ecodesign requirements, and with that also for a digital product passport. For a company of 10 to 100 employees, this means above all: checking whether its own product — profile, casting, packaging semi-finished product — fits within the description used by the regulation and the later delegated act. This is not a legal exercise in itself, but a matter of laying your own product catalogue alongside the text. A good starting point is the question which products from the aluminium sector fall under the ESPR, because there it is explained per product group how broad or narrow the delineation works out in practice.

Understanding that the passport becomes mandatory only via a delegated act

Article 9 of the ESPR describes what a digital product passport contains and what conditions it must meet, but the obligation to actually have one arises only at the moment the European Commission establishes a delegated act for the company's own product group. For companies, this means that there is now no legal obligation to already keep a passport, but a growing chance that that obligation will be introduced within the company's own sector. What a delegated act exactly is and why it determines what a manufacturer must do is elaborated on the page what is a delegated act and why does it determine what I must do.

Distinguishing between semi-finished product and end product

Many aluminium companies do not supply an end product to the consumer, but a profile, sheet or casting that is processed further down the chain. The question of whether the passport must already be part of the semi-finished product, or only of the end product in which it is processed, is relevant to the company's own position in the chain and to who supplies which data. This distinction is addressed on the page on whether a product passport is already required if the aluminium is still a semi-finished product.

Checking whether company size changes the obligation

Among smaller companies there is sometimes an assumption that a European obligation such as this applies only to large industrial players. Whether and to what extent company size plays a role varies by regulation and by exemptions that may be included in a delegated act. This is elaborated further on the page whether the product passport also applies to small companies.

Where things go wrong in practice

A number of patterns keep coming up with companies tackling this subject for the first time.

Assumption that "aluminium" is a single category. A profile manufacturer and a packaging film manufacturer look at the same raw material, but may fall under different delegated acts with different timelines. Anyone basing themselves on news about "aluminium and the product passport" without looking at their own product group is jumping to conclusions too quickly.

Confusing the framework regulation with the implementing rules. Articles 1 and 9 of the ESPR state what may eventually become applicable, not what is already in force. Companies that read the regulation as a direct obligation are jumping the gun or incurring unnecessary costs for a system that still needs to be aligned with the final requirements.

Do not make a distinction between primary and secondary aluminium. The origin of the material may have implications for which data are relevant in a passport, and possibly for the way a product is assessed. This is relevant to the question of whether the difference between primary and secondary aluminium is important for the company's own production line.

Uncertainty about spare parts and repair parts. A company that supplies loose parts for repair or maintenance sometimes assumes this falls outside any regulation because it is not a new end product. Whether that is correct depends on how the delegated act for the product group in question addresses this; see the explanation about loose aluminium spare parts.

Delaying the internal inventory too long. Some companies defer any preparation until the date is set, and then discover that their own data on composition, origin and processing have not been centrally documented. Having that inventory is useful regardless of the exact date the obligation comes into force.

What you can document now

Even without the delegated act in place, there are a number of matters that a company can already put in order and that will almost certainly prove relevant later:

• An inventory of the company's own product groups, linked to the descriptions in Article 1 of the ESPR, so that it is clear which part of the range may fall under future rules.
• Documentation on the origin of the material — primary, secondary, or a mix — per product line.
• A list of the data that are already available on composition, processing and origin, as a basis for what will eventually need to go into a passport. A starting point for this is on the page about which data will be included in the aluminium product passport.
• An internal note on the company's position in the supply chain: does the company supply a semi-finished product, a component, or an end product, and who is therefore likely to be responsible for the passport.
• Agreements with suppliers on sharing material data, so these do not have to be requested under time pressure as soon as an obligation becomes concrete.