Digital Product Passport: Croatian companies seek a place in the front rows of the new European industrial era
The European Union is entering a phase in which product data will no longer be hidden deep in technical documentation, internal databases, or declarations that the average buyer can barely read. The Digital Product Passport, also known as the Digital Product Passport, is becoming one of the key instruments of European green and industrial policy, and its goal is to make information about goods more available, comparable, and useful throughout the entire product life cycle. For consumers, this means more transparency; for manufacturers, new obligations; and for technology companies, room for a market that is only just emerging. In that space, Croatian companies are also trying to secure their positions, including ENSESO and AKD, which see this change as an opportunity to expand the experience gained on complex traceability and digital trust systems. At a time when Brussels is developing rules for digital passport service providers and a standardisation framework for interoperability, the question is no longer whether the model will expand, but who will be ready to offer reliable infrastructure first.
What is actually changing in the European Union
The new rules stem from the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, which entered into force in July 2024 and opened the way for the introduction of requirements for almost all categories of physical products placed on the European Union market. There is an important difference compared with the simplified public perception: the digital passport will not become mandatory for absolutely all products on the same day, but will be introduced gradually, by product groups and through sectoral legislation. According to European Commission documents, the first concrete mandatory wave arrives on 18 February 2027, when the digital passport becomes mandatory for certain types of batteries. That is precisely why 2026 and 2027 are not just technical deadlines, but a period in which the market for suppliers, integrators, data storage providers, authentication solutions, and systems for access to information intended for consumers, supervisory authorities, and partners in the supply chain will take shape.
At the European Commission, the digital passport is described as a mechanism for the electronic registration, processing, and sharing of product information among companies in the supply chain, public authorities, and consumers. The emphasis is not only on the composition of the product, but also on its sustainability, durability, circularity, and compliance with single market rules. In other words, it is a new layer of industrial infrastructure that connects environmental policy, market surveillance, customs, servicing, repairs, and waste management. In such a model, it is no longer enough for a product merely to be physically present on a shelf; it must also have a credible digital identity.
What citizens will actually see when they scan the code
For citizens, the digital passport will be most visible through a simple action: scanning a code with a mobile phone. In practice, this most often means a QR code, but the industry is simultaneously developing solutions based on NFC, RFID, and other data carriers, depending on whether the label serves the consumer, logistics, service, or regulator. Behind that scan there is not just a product marketing page, but a structured set of data that should answer a series of very practical questions. This includes the product identity, data on the batch or model, data on materials and the share of recycled raw materials, information on origin, maintenance and repair instructions, possibilities for replacing parts, expected lifespan, and the proper method of disposal at the end of use. For certain product categories, such information will no longer be a matter of the manufacturer's goodwill, but a regulatory obligation.
This also changes the relationship between the buyer and the manufacturer. Until now, a large part of the market has functioned on the principle of limited or hard-to-access data, with consumers only partially able to assess how durable, repairable, or sustainable a product is. The digital passport seeks to reduce that asymmetry. It should also help service providers, the recycling industry, distributors, customs, and inspections, because they all access the same product identity, but with different levels of authority and different sets of data. In theory, this means less improvisation, fewer disputes over origin, and less room to conceal weaknesses in the supply chain. In practice, however, the success of the system will depend on the quality of the data and trust in its source.
Why the question of trust is becoming just as important as the question of data
This is precisely where the second layer of the whole story comes to the fore: security, authentication, and the legal validity of digital records. It is not enough for the digital passport to exist; it must also be reliable. If a manufacturer, importer, or another economic operator enters product data, the market must have a way to verify that those data really come from an authorised entity, that they have not subsequently been altered unnoticed, and that there is a clear trail of changes. The European regulatory framework for this relies on eIDAS, and its new developmental step is represented by Regulation (EU) 2024/1183, often called eIDAS 2.0, which establishes the European digital identity framework.
The European Commission states that by the end of 2026, Member States will make a European Digital Identity Wallet available to citizens, residents, and business entities. This wallet is not conceived only as a place for digital documents, but also as a tool for secure identification, the sharing of verified attributes, and the creation of legally binding electronic signatures. For the world of digital passports, this is important because the regulatory logic does not stop at the product data itself. It also requires a reliable answer to the question of who entered the data, under which identity, with which rights, and with what proof of authenticity. Without that, the digital passport could become just another container of unstructured or unreliable information, rather than a tool of market transparency.
It is important here to distinguish between two levels. One is the already established framework of European digital identity and future wallets by the end of 2026. The other is the development of special solutions adapted to business entities. At the end of 2025, the European Commission also presented a proposal for a European Business Wallet, which, on the foundations of the existing framework, should facilitate the identification of economic operators, the management of authorisations, and the secure exchange of official documents. This is not yet a completed obligation of the kind that applies to general-purpose European Digital Identity Wallets, but it clearly shows the direction in which Brussels sees future digital administration and cross-border business.
Where ENSESO and AKD are positioning themselves in that transition
At that intersection of product traceability and trust infrastructure, ENSESO and AKD are seeking their market niche. On its official pages, ENSESO presents a digital product passport solution through the sunrise2027.ai platform, that is, Trakkey DPP, with an emphasis on turning classic barcodes into GS1-compatible 2D codes, automated data extraction, the creation of digital passports, and interoperability with the European standardisation direction. The company states that the solution was developed to support data exchange, consistency, and secure exchange in line with the work of CEN/CENELEC JTC 24, the joint technical committee dedicated to the framework and system of the digital product passport. At the European level, the Commission is at the same time preparing secondary legislation for digital passport service providers, including questions of storage, integrity, API interfaces, financial sustainability, and possible certification, which further increases the importance of suppliers' technical readiness.
AKD brings another key element to this story: digital trust infrastructure and experience in traceability. On the official pages of AKD and Certilia, it is emphasised that this group develops solutions in the field of digital identity, electronic signature, timestamping, and advanced traceability systems, and that qualified electronic signatures and seals have legal force throughout the European Union. In the context of the digital passport, this is not a secondary technical detail, but a potential core of trust. If product data rely on qualified certificates, timestamping, and a clear audit trail, then the system gains what the market and the regulator require: the ability to prove authenticity, immutability, and responsibility for the recorded information.
Experience from tobacco traceability as a testing ground for the wider European market
The most concrete argument with which Croatian actors are trying to distinguish themselves from competitors is experience with tobacco product traceability systems. ENSESO has been developing and offering TPD ID Issuer solutions for years, while in Croatia AKD acts as the national issuer of identification codes for economic operators in the tobacco product traceability system. On AKD's official website, it is stated that the company was the first issuer in the European Union to implement a traceability system across the full range of production environments, while as early as 2018 it pointed out that Croatia was among the first EU Member States with such a developed technological solution for tracking tobacco products from production to market. On its own pages, ENSESO in turn recalls implementations and extensions of concessions for TPD ID Issuer services in EU Member States.
That experience does not automatically mean that the same players will also dominate the digital product passport market, because this is a broader and more regulatorily diverse field. Still, the similarity is sufficient for that portfolio to become a serious reference. Both systems are based on unique identifiers, mass data processing, integration with production and logistics environments, clear access rules, and regulatory reporting. A company that has already worked in an environment of millions or billions of records, under strict rules and with high regulator expectations, enters the digital passport market from a different starting position than those who are only now offering conceptual presentations. That is why the Croatian example is interesting not only as a local business story, but also as an indicator of how experience from one regulated niche can spill over into new European technological infrastructure.
Why 2026 and 2027 will be decisive for manufacturers
For manufacturers, the key message is that it is not only a new label on packaging that is being prepared, but a change in the way data are managed. A digital product passport cannot be managed seriously without high-quality internal records, links with suppliers, updates throughout the product life cycle, and clear responsibility for data accuracy. Companies that today keep data on materials, repairs, service procedures, or origin in separate tables, PDFs, and emails will very quickly discover that such an approach is not robust enough for a regulatory environment in which consumers, supervisory authorities, and partners expect consistency and verifiability. In its documents, the Commission therefore emphasises not only the availability of information, but also requirements for data storage, exchange, archiving, integrity, and searchability.
For the Croatian economy, this is two-way news. One part of industry will incur additional adjustment costs, especially where supply chains are complex and data are dispersed among multiple suppliers. Another part of the economy, above all the IT sector, trust service providers, integrators, and compliance consultants, gains a new market. In that sense, the digital product passport is not only an environmental obligation, but also an industrial opportunity. The winners will not necessarily be those who first create an attractive user interface, but those who can combine standards, regulatory requirements, security, scalability, and long-term reliability.
What remains open
Although the political direction is clear, many technical and implementation questions are still being developed. During 2025, the European Commission launched a public consultation precisely on the future rules for digital passport service providers, including the method of data storage and management and the need for a certification scheme. This means that the market is being shaped not only through individual products, but also through the rules of the game for the entire supplier ecosystem. For companies that are now investing in solutions, this is at the same time both an opportunity and a risk: an opportunity because they can occupy space early, and a risk because the final technical and organisational rules will only take full shape by the end.
Despite this, the basic direction is no longer in doubt. The digital product passport is becoming an integral part of European industrial and environmental policy, and with the first mandatory sectors from 2027, the issue is moving from the concept phase to the market implementation phase. In that transition, Croatia has actors who are trying to prove that they can offer more than a local service: data management platforms, experience from regulatory traceability, and digital trust infrastructure that in the new system could be just as important as the code itself that the consumer will scan on the product.
Sources:- European Commission – overview of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and the expansion of the framework to almost all physical products on the EU market link
- EUR-Lex / European Commission – official documents on the Digital Product Passport, gradual introduction, and the obligation for certain types of batteries from 18 February 2027 link
- European Commission – public consultation on rules for digital product passport service providers link
- European Commission – European digital identity and the obligation of Member States to enable digital wallets for citizens, residents, and business entities by the end of 2026 link
- EUR-Lex – Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 on establishing the European digital identity framework link
- EUR-Lex – proposal for a European Business Wallet as an upgrade of the existing digital identity framework for economic operators and public bodies link
- ENSESO – official presentation of the DPP solution, the sunrise2027.ai / Trakkey DPP platform, and alignment with the work of CEN/CENELEC JTC 24 link
- AKD – official overview of products and solutions in the field of digital identity, security, and traceability link
- Certilia – official information on digital identification, qualified signatures, and legal validity throughout the EU link
- AKD – official description of the Track&Trace solution and claims of early introduction of the traceability system in the EU environment link
- AKD – announcement on the development of the authentication and traceability system for tobacco products in Croatia link
- ENSESO – official presentation of the TPD ID Issuer solution and earlier implementations in the field of tobacco product traceability link
Find accommodation nearby
Creation time: 2 hours ago