The short answer
The rules from the regulation itself are the same in every EU Member State: it is one European regulation that applies directly, without a country needing to first transpose it into its own legislation. What can differ per country is who checks whether companies comply with it. Each Member State appoints one or more market surveillance authorities, and they organise their checks in their own way. If you only supply in the Netherlands, you will notice little of this in practice. If you also supply to customers in other EU countries, it can be useful to know that the supervisory authority checking there does not have to be the same as in the Netherlands.
This distinction is confusing for many entrepreneurs, and that is understandable: it involves two different layers. One layer is the content of the obligation — what must be in the passport, who supplies it, how long it must remain available. That layer is European and therefore the same everywhere. The other layer is supervision — who checks in a country, how often, and in what way. That layer is organised at national level and can therefore run slightly differently per country.
Why the content is the same but supervision is not
A regulation works differently from a directive. A directive instructs Member States to create their own legislation, and differences naturally arise. A regulation applies directly, in the same wording, in each Member State. For the digital product passport, this means that the requirements for content — which data, which data carrier, how long available — are not rewritten per country.
Supervision of compliance is always organised nationally in the EU, however. Each Member State appoints its own market surveillance authorities, usually divided by product group across different bodies. How those bodies organise their work precisely — sampling, complaints, cooperation with customs — is up to the country itself. That explains why two companies following exactly the same regulation can encounter a different supervisory picture in two different countries.
What that can concretely mean if you export
Suppose you supply aluminium profiles to an installation company in Germany or Belgium. The substantive obligation regarding the product passport does not change because the customer is in another country: the same data, the same data carrier apply. But a check at that customer, or at an intermediary in the chain, is carried out via the supervisory authority competent in that country, with the working method customary there. In theory, nothing changes for you as a supplier regarding the obligation itself, but it is good to know that you will not automatically be dealing with the same body as in the Netherlands.
Whether and how supervisory authorities in different Member States cooperate with each other in cross-border supplies has not yet been laid down in detail for this specific regulation. For the current state of play, the official text on EUR-Lex is the source, and for questions about your own situation, the competent supervisory authority or a lawyer is the appropriate contact — this is something we as a platform cannot fill in for you.
Where you can calmly look into this
Because the question 'what applies to me here' often differs slightly from company to company, we have worked out this kind of subject in the knowledge base per situation. There you will also find the source in the official text, so you can read it yourself. If you first want an indication of whether this subject is relevant for your products, then you can see in a few questions roughly where you stand. For those wondering how we obtain our information and why it is traceable, we explain that on the page where the information comes from.
If you also want to know how the passport looks in practice for your type of product, or what the exact role of your own company in the chain is, then that is explained in other places in the knowledge base. If you are unsure where to start, first check the answers to the most frequently asked questions — that often saves search time.
In brief
The content of the digital product passport does not differ per EU country, but supervision of it is organised per Member State and can therefore feel different in practice. For most companies supplying within the EU, this is mainly something to know about, not something to take immediate action on. If you want to see how this applies to your situation without any obligations, feel free to do the free quick-scan or browse further through the knowledge base.