Digital Product Passports: From Compliance Tool to Strategic Advantage
- Tilkal
- Sep 29
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 30
The growing complexity of global supply chains — combined with rising demands for transparency, compliance, and collaboration — is pushing industries toward a critical transformation: the need to enable due diligence and to diminish risk. This means building in robustness and acquiring knowledge about their supply chain: in practice this implies structured data sharing across the supply chain that follows the entire product lifecycle from sourcing to selling. At the heart of this shift lies the Digital Product Passport (DPP).
DPPs are poised to become the cornerstone of this new era of data-driven collaboration, enabling manufacturers, suppliers, regulators, and consumers to access and share essential information about a product’s origin, composition, environmental impact, and more.
But not all DPPs are created equal. Digital Product Passports need to be truly auditable, dynamic tools that serve compliance and due diligence, but also establish the foundation for operational anticipation and robustness. To bring value Digital Product Passports need to differentiate two product items pertaining to the same product category. They need to bring visibility about the origin, transformation and movements of any item or batch, exactly like a traditional passport brings visibility about the travels of a human being.
What Is a Digital Product Passport?
A Digital Product Passport is a structured, interoperable digital record that compiles all relevant product data—materials, provenance, certifications, manufacturing details, traceability logs, technical specifications, and end-of-life instructions—into a single, accessible framework. It relies on a shared data backbone like Tilkal, minimizing silos and enabling stakeholders—suppliers, manufacturers, regulators, consumers—to access lifecycle-wide product information.
DPPs are expected to become mandatory in several sectors including batteries, textiles, electronics, and construction. But beyond regulation, they offer companies a strategic opportunity to streamline information flows and build trust across the supply chain.
Why Digital Product Passports Matter
Product data today is fragmented across silos — supplier databases, compliance documents, certification bodies, and internal systems. This fragmentation prevents companies across the value chain from accessing the full picture of their product’s lifecycle.
Digital Product Passports solve this by:
Centralizing key data in a unified format
Enabling multi-actor data contribution across the supply chain
Supporting interoperability between systems and organizations
Facilitating real-time, reliable access to compliance and ESG indicators
When backed by end-to-end and dynamic traceability, it results in better risk management, easier audits, stronger customer trust, and improved operational control.
How Tilkal Powers Next-Generation Digital Product Passports
While DPPs provide a framework for product information, the reliability, auditability, and actionability of that information depend on the platform behind it.
Tilkal enhances DPPs with its robust traceability and data infrastructure:
End-to-end, real-time traceability from raw material to finished product
Granular traceability at the batch, SKU/product, purchase order, or delivery number level
Multisource data integration (suppliers, on-site actors, certifications, impact, logistics, and more)
Blockchain-backed auditability for secure, auditable, tamper-proof recordkeeping
Built-in risk and anomaly detection to enable real-time alerts and tier-N supplier risk analysis
Secure access control for granular sharing where and when needed
A Digital Product Passport is then more than a static document — it becomes a living, verifiable source of truth that supports:
Regulatory compliance (ESPR, Batteries Regulation, AGEC...)
Sustainability claims
Circularity and recycling traceability
Consumer transparency
Supplier accountability
eraTrace: A Real-World Example in the Metals Industry
Tilkal recently partnered with Eramet to develop eraTrace, one of the first real-world implementations of a Digital Product Passport for metals.
With every delivery number of Eramet’s manganese alloys, eraTrace provides to its customers:
Traceability of manganese alloys across every transformation stage
Verified data on environmental and social performance
Transparency into the product’s origin and transport footprint
eraTrace exemplifies how Digital Product Passports can enable verified data sharing in critical raw material sectors. It shows how DPPs can support complex, global supply chains in meeting rising demands for due diligence, transparency, and circularity.
Looking Ahead
Digital Product Passports are a strategic advantage. In a world shaped by growing regulation and global interdependence, companies that invest in traceable, shareable, and verifiable data today are building the foundation for resilience and risk control.
The reality? Most supply chains still operate in the dark. But in an increasingly complex and unpredictable environment, flying blind is no longer a tolerable risk. The companies that lead tomorrow will be those who build transparency into the core of their operations — and turn it into a competitive edge.
With Tilkal, your DPP becomes a trusted infrastructure for secure collaboration and data governance — future-proofing your products and building confidence across your entire ecosystem.
Want to learn more?
Explore how Tilkal helps you implement auditable Digital Product Passports adapted to your industry.
Reach out to our team today!