What you pay for ten years of hosting of the aluminium product passport
There is no fixed rate per product for ten years of hosting a digital product passport. The amount you pay depends on the size of your product range, the volume and complexity of the data that is recorded, and how often that data changes over time. It is not a one-time purchase but a service that runs for ten years, and that makes the structure of the price different from a regular invoice.
What is included exactly differs per provider of this service. With alupas.eu it consists of three components: compiling the passport on the basis of the data you or your supplier provide, hosting those data for ten years so they remain accessible, and supplying the QR data carrier that goes on the product or packaging. At the current rates and what is included you can see how that is structured.
Where the amount comes from
The price of a product passport is roughly a sum of three factors. First, the number of products or product groups for which a passport is needed: a foundry with ten standard alloys has a different task than a profile manufacturer with hundreds of variants. Second, the source of the data: if you already have a structured database, compiling is faster than when data have to be gathered from multiple systems or from multiple suppliers. Third, the frequency of changes: a product whose composition, origin or certification changes regularly requires more frequent updates to the passport than a product that remains unchanged for years.
In addition, it matters whether you have the passport supplied via your own software link or via manual entry. A link costs more to set up initially, but saves time once you have many products or data change frequently. Anyone discussing this with a software supplier would do well to know in advance which data fields become mandatory and who within the company manages that data.
Why hosting is a separate cost item
The regulation stipulates that a product passport remains accessible throughout the life of the product, even after it has been sold. This means that hosting is not incidental, but a core part of the service. Hosting for ten years requires management: the passport must remain accessible via the QR code, even if systems at the provider are replaced or data are supplemented. That explains why hosting is priced separately from compiling the passport itself, and why a low entry price for setting up does not automatically mean a low price for the entire period.
Compiling it yourself or outsourcing it
Some companies consider compiling and hosting the passport themselves, for example using existing IT capacity. This can result in lower direct costs, but does require that you yourself ensure that the data remain accessible for ten years, even after staff changes or a switch to different software. By outsourcing to a specialised provider, you pay for that continuity as a fixed part of the service. Which course of action is appropriate in your situation depends on your internal capacity and the size of your product range; a lawyer or adviser can help with the contractual side of outsourcing.
What you can do yourself
Costs become more concrete once you know how many products are involved and what your data looks like now. A good starting point is to check which data are already available in structured form and which are still scattered across suppliers, certificates or internal systems. The better organized this is, the more predictable the costs for compiling the product passport will be.
On the knowledge base with explanations per topic you can read more about which data are typically required and how the regulation describes this obligation. And on the page explaining where the information comes from you can see how the compilation and hosting work in practice.
Your own situation in perspective
The exact costs for your company depend on your assortment and the state of your data, and these differ too much between companies to be set out in general terms. With the free quick-scan that provides an initial indication in just a few questions you gain insight into where you stand for your own products without any obligation, before you request a quote or speak to a supplier.