CWA for the Digital Product Passport for machines

Illustration of a passport with a QR code on its cover, representing the digital product passport

The Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a dataset that summarizes information on a product. This information concerns, for example, the availability of spare parts for the product, its repairability and its proper disposal. Use of the DPP is intended in the first instance to support environmental protection by making it easier for stakeholders in the value and supply chain to work together in implementing a circular economy. The data stored in the DPP covers all phases of the product’s life cycle, and can thus be used in the circular economy in the context of design, production, use, disposal, etc. In theory, safety-related data could also be stored in the DPP, enabling it to be used for the purposes of technical safety or occupational safety and health.

Work is currently beginning in a CEN and CENELEC workshop to define the content and data of a DPP for machinery. The DPP’s data fields, which are to be defined in the planned CEN/CENELEC Workshop Agreement (CWA), are intended to be available for use in further steps in a machine’s life cycle (reuse, recycling or repair) and thereby to support optimization of the machine’s operating and material efficiency. This workshop is not intended to address safety-related aspects (which would in any case not be permitted under the regulations). It is conceivable, however, that in future – and at the level of standardization rather than in a workshop – requirements for DPPs could be defined for the communication of safety-related data concerning work equipment.

Useful links concerning the DPP:

Federal Ministry for the Environment: the product passport explained (in German)
Fraunhofer IAO: A summary of the Digital Product Passport (in German)