who is liable if there is an error in the product passport

The manufacturer is first in line

The responsibility for the accuracy of the data in the digital product passport lies in the first place with the manufacturer. Article 27 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) places on manufacturers the obligation to ensure that the product and the associated information comply with the requirements applicable to that product group, and the passport is part of that information. Whoever places the product on the market under their own name or brand, or whoever substantially modifies a product, is treated as a manufacturer for the purposes of that obligation — even if the actual production takes place elsewhere. This means that an error in the passport is in most cases traced back to the party responsible for compiling and placing the product on the market, not automatically to whoever "caused" the error in a practical sense.

Who this applies to, and who it does not

This responsibility concerns the manufacturer as defined by the ESPR, which is a broader concept than the party that physically makes the product. Anyone in doubt as to whether they are classified as a manufacturer or importer for a particular product will find the distinction on the page am I an importer or manufacturer under the ESPR?. For those selling electronics under their own brand while another party handles production, the question is somewhat different: that situation is described on the page I sell private label electronics what are my obligations and on selling under your own brand.. Distributors and traders who resell a product without modification do not automatically fall under the same liability as the manufacturer — their own role and limits are set out on the page what obligations does a distributor or trader of electronics have?. What this article does not regulate is the question of who within an organisation is internally responsible if multiple parties are involved in compiling the passport — that is a contractual matter between the parties involved, not a question that the ESPR itself answers.

No fixed date yet, but a fixed line in the text

There is no delegated act yet published that specifically determines for electronics and ICT equipment from which point the digital product passport is mandatory, and therefore also no point at which this responsibility for this product group will come into practice. The ESPR work plan provides for delegated acts per product category, with an expectation that these will appear from 2027 onwards; for electronics and ICT a date around 2030 is mentioned, but this is not yet fixed. Until a delegated act for this product group has been published, the obligation to have a digital product passport as described in Article 9 of the ESPR does not yet apply concretely to electronics manufacturers and importers. The basic rule on who as manufacturer is responsible for the accuracy of product information is already fixed in the regulation itself and will not change by the delegated act — that mainly regulates the content, the level of detail and the effective date per product group.

What this means in practice

Anyone preparing for this should start by determining what role they play themselves: manufacturer, importer, distributor, or holder of a private label product — because liability for the content of the passport is linked to that role, not to who actually entered the data. After that, it is useful to look at the origin of the data that goes into the passport: test results, material composition, repair data. Article 39 of the ESPR sets requirements for the test, measurement and calculation methods used to establish that data, and article 40 requires the prevention of circumvention and of practices that conceal the actual performance of a product. This means that an error arising from an incorrect test method or from manipulated measurement results can weigh more heavily than a simple data entry error, even though in both cases formal liability rests with the manufacturer. For anyone who does not make the product themselves but purchases it from a manufacturer outside the EU, it is important to know that this relationship does not automatically shift liability — see for this my manufacturer is outside the European Union — who arranges the product passport then?. Anyone who purchases an existing product from another EU party and resells it unchanged would also do well to determine in advance whether they will thereby be considered a manufacturer themselves; this is addressed at I buy electronics in another EU country and resell them. Furthermore, it is useful to know who actually signs for the accuracy of the passport before the product goes to market — that question is central to who signs off on conformity, and what the consequences are if there is no passport at all is described at what happens if I don't have a product passport for my electronics?.

The legal basis: articles 9, 27, 39 and 40 ESPR

This approach follows from an interplay of four provisions in the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781): article 9 describes what the digital product passport is and what information it contains, article 27 sets out the obligations for manufacturers — including the responsibility for correct and up-to-date product information — article 39 sets requirements for the methods by which data is determined, and article 40 addresses the prevention of circumvention and artificially favourable results. Together, these articles establish that liability for the content of the passport lies primarily with the manufacturer, and that the manner in which data has been obtained also determines how an error is assessed.

If you are currently placing electronics on the market, it is best to now already establish which party in your own chain is responsible for which part of the product information, so that these agreements are in place as soon as the delegated act for this product group is published and the obligation becomes concrete.