The EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) mandates Digital Product Passports (DPP) for most physical goods sold in Europe starting 2026–2030 (phased by category). If you run a WooCommerce store shipping to EU customers, your products will need machine-readable passports containing lifecycle data, materials, repairability scores, and recycling instructions — all accessible via a physical carrier (QR code, RFID, or datamatrix).

This article walks through how we built a self-hosted WooCommerce plugin to generate DPP-compliant structured data and printable QR codes — no third-party SaaS, no ongoing fees.

What Is a Digital Product Passport?

A DPP is a structured data record attached to a physical product containing:

Product identity : GTIN/EAN, model, manufacturer, batch/serial

Materials & substances : Bill of materials, hazardous substances (SVHC list)

Repairability : Spare parts availability, repair manual links, disassembly score

Environmental footprint : Carbon footprint (kg CO₂e),…