# The EU Digital Product Passport Arrives First for Batteries on 18 February 2027: How Growth Manufacturers Prepare Their Product Data With AI

> The EU Digital Product Passport is mandatory for batteries from 18 Feb 2027, then textiles and tyres later in 2027. How manufacturers get DPP data ready.

- Published: 2026-09-25
- Author: Master Mind
- Canonical: https://aimaster.fi/en/artikkelit/digitaalinen-tuotepassi-tulee-ensin-akuille-1822027-nain-valmistava-kasvuyritys-

The Digital Product Passport (DPP) becomes mandatory first for batteries on 18 February 2027 — covering electric vehicle, light means of transport and industrial batteries. During the rest of 2027 the requirement then extends to construction products, textiles, aluminium and tyres (European Commission, 2026). A growth manufacturer selling into the EU market needs product, material and supply chain data in a form its systems don't produce today.

The EU's DPP Registry already went live on 20 July 2026, with a testing environment available (European Commission, 2026). That means there is less preparation time than it might seem — and a delegated act for iron and steel is expected to be adopted during 2026 as well.

## What is a Digital Product Passport (DPP)?

A Digital Product Passport is a digital record required under the EU's Ecodesign Regulation (ESPR, (EU) 2024/1781) that stores a product's materials, origin, durability, repairability and recycling information across its lifecycle. The product is linked to its passport via a QR code or similar data carrier, and the information is registered in the EU's central DPP Registry before the product enters the market (European Commission, 2026).

## When does the DPP apply to your product group?

The rollout is staggered, and the binding date depends on the product group (European Commission, 2026):

| Product group | Mandatory from |
| --- | --- |
| Batteries (EV, light means of transport, industrial) | 18 Feb 2027 |
| Construction products and DPP service providers | Q2–Q3 2027 |
| Textiles, aluminium, tyres | Q3–Q4 2027 |
| Iron and steel (delegated act) | Adopted 2026, applies later |
| Furniture | 2028 |
| Mattresses and recycled content | 2029 |

Once a delegated act is adopted, companies get a transition period of at least 18 months before the requirement becomes binding (European Commission, 2026). That sounds generous until you realize the data isn't sitting ready in any single system.

## Where does a manufacturer's data actually break down today?

The DPP requires product-level data: material composition, country of origin, recycled content, repairability and supply chain traceability. Today that information is scattered across PIM systems, ERP, supplier spreadsheets and paper material certificates. We covered the same underlying problem in our article on [product information management (PIM/MDM)](https://aimaster.fi/en/artikkelit/tuotetiedon-hallinta-pimmdm-tekoalyn-unohdettu-perusta-ennen-agenttihanketta): when product data is fragmented, no agent can assemble a reliable answer from it — and the DPP turns that gap into a legal risk.

- A supplier's material certificate arrives as a PDF attachment in an email, not in structured form.
- ERP knows the product number but not the sub-component's country of origin.
- Recycled content is calculated by hand in a spreadsheet before every customer request.
- No one owns the process that pulls this information together across a product's full lifecycle.

## How does a growth company build DPP data with AI?

A growth company doesn't solve the DPP requirement by buying one piece of software. First the data has to be pulled together from PIM, ERP and supplier documents into one place, then structured into a consistent format, and finally kept current as suppliers and materials change. That takes a data foundation and an agent — not a one-off project.

[Master Layer](https://aimaster.fi/tuotteet/master-layer) is a data foundation layer that connects a company's existing systems (CRM, ERP, documents) securely for AI use. For the DPP, that means bringing PIM, ERP and supplier portal data into one data foundation without replacing any existing system.

Master Mind is a set of AI agents that operates on top of Master Layer's data and runs business processes autonomously. For the DPP, it extracts unstructured information from supplier documents, such as a material certificate PDF, fills missing fields by querying the supplier, and keeps the product passport current as the bill of materials changes.

- Data inventory: map where each piece of DPP-required information sits today.
- Structuring: an agent converts documents and spreadsheets into one consistent data model.
- Maintenance: an agent updates the passport automatically whenever a supplier or material changes — no manual spreadsheet cycle before every customer request.

The same problem shows up at a Finnish manufacturing subcontractor supplying components to European equipment makers: material data is scattered across dozens of supplier contracts, and every customer question about a product's origin means manual work. Once the data is assembled once, an agent answers the same question again in minutes.

The first step isn't a software purchase — it's mapping what data the DPP requires for your specific products and where it lives today. A [free Master Mind analysis](https://aimaster.fi/analyysi) walks through this in concrete, euro-denominated terms.

## Frequently asked questions

### When does the Digital Product Passport become mandatory?

The Digital Product Passport becomes mandatory first for batteries on 18 February 2027, then for construction products and DPP service providers in Q2–Q3 2027, and for textiles, aluminium and tyres later in 2027 (European Commission, 2026). Furniture follows in 2028, and mattresses and recycled content in 2029.

### Does the DPP apply to smaller manufacturers too?

Yes, if the company manufactures or imports products covered by the DPP, such as batteries, textiles or construction products. The requirement attaches to the product, not company size, so even a small subcontractor must supply material data to its customer for the passport.

### What data does a Digital Product Passport require?

Depending on the product group, the passport includes material composition, origin, durability and repairability information, and recycling or reuse instructions. Requirements are most detailed for batteries: the EU Battery Regulation (2023/1542) lists a separate data catalogue by category (European Commission, 2026).

### How does AI help meet the DPP requirement?

Master Layer brings PIM, ERP and supplier data into one data foundation, and a Master Mind agent running on top of it extracts information from documents, fills in missing fields, and keeps the product passport current as materials or suppliers change.

### Where should a growth company start preparing for the DPP?

The first step is mapping where the DPP's required information sits today and how structured it is. That mapping determines whether the company needs a data inventory first, a PIM cleanup, or a direct integration with a supplier portal.