What happens to the digital product passport if my company closes?
The passport does not disappear if the company ceases operations
The digital product passport is linked to the product, not to the continued existence of the manufacturer or importer who created the passport. This is the starting point of the ESPR: whoever places a product on the market has the obligation to keep the associated information available, and that obligation does not automatically disappear the moment the company goes bankrupt, is taken over or simply stops its activities. In practice, this means that there must always be a party that can be identified as responsible for the passport — and if the original party disappears, that responsibility shifts to whoever remains in the chain, such as an importer, authorised representative or legal successor. The underlying data itself, and the unique identification of the passport, are moreover registered independently of any single company.
Who this applies to, and who it does not
This question applies to electrical and electronic equipment falling under the upcoming ESPR obligation for the digital product passport — thus for manufacturers, importers and authorised representatives who are (or have been) responsible for placing a product on the market. This is about the continuity of the passport itself: the data, the QR code, the accessibility. It is not about warranty, liability for defects, or the question of whether a customer can still go somewhere for repair — those are different processes with different rules, which are separate from the question of whether the passport continues to work. It is also not about what happens if a product itself is destroyed or recycled; the passport concerns the information, not the physical product.
The date has not yet been fixed, like the rest of this obligation
There is no established entry-into-force date for the obligation to provide a digital product passport for electrical and electronic equipment and ICT. The ESPR itself is the framework regulation; the concrete requirements per product category — including any rules on what must happen if a responsible party ceases to exist — come in delegated acts adopted by the European Commission per product subcategory. According to the ESPR work programme, those acts for electrical and electronic equipment and ICT are expected at the earliest from 2027 onwards. Until a delegated act for a specific product group has been published, there is no legal obligation for that group to provide a passport, and therefore no specific prescribed regulation for continuity in the event of business closure. What is established is the principle from the ESPR itself: the obligation is linked to placing the product on the market, not to the company as a legal entity.
What this means in practice, step by step
For those already thinking about a product passport — for example because their own sector is among the first to be required — the first question is who technically hosts the passport and whether that party remains independent of the company itself. A passport that exists only on the company's own server disappears as soon as that server goes offline; a passport with a specialised third party remains in principle accessible regardless of what happens to the manufacturer's or importer's company. The second question is who, in the event of sale, merger or closure of the company, formally takes on the role of responsible party — this is something that can be regulated contractually with a successor, distributor or the hosting party itself, in anticipation of what the delegated act will say about this. The third question is whether the data itself, separate from the hosting, can be found centrally somewhere: the register from Article 13 of the ESPR is intended to record unique identifiers and basic data at EU level, independent of which company provides the day-to-day hosting at any given time. Whoever chooses a platform for the product passport now should therefore be wise to look at the continuity of that platform itself — not only at the continuity of their own company.
Where this follows from: Article 10 and Article 13 of the ESPR
Article 10 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) describes the requirements for the digital product passport, including the obligation to keep the information available and up to date for the product for which it was drawn up — an obligation that is linked to the product and its placing on the market, not to the lifespan of a single specific undertaking. Article 13 of the ESPR governs the register of digital product passports, in which unique identifiers and core data are centrally recorded. This register exists independently of the individual hosting party and thus forms the basis on which supervisory authorities and other parties can find a passport, even if the original responsible undertaking no longer exists. The precise implementation for electronics and ICT — including any rules specifically on business cessation — follows in the delegated act for that product category, which at the time of writing has not yet been published.
Anyone who wants to get started on this can best now already establish with which party the passport is hosted and whether that choice is independent of the continued existence of their own business, and keep track of the development of the delegated act for their own product category to see when and how the continuity obligation is concretely worked out.
What this is based on
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR), Article 10 (requirements for the digital product passport)
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR), Article 13 (register of digital product passports)
The regulation itself is on EUR-Lex. We provide references per statement; you do not have to take our word for it.
What you must concretely do
What is expected of you
The obligation to keep the digital product passport available does not end with the company
Article 10 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) requires that the digital product passport remains available, regardless of what happens to the manufacturer or importer. The obligation is linked to the product, not to the existence of the undertaking that placed it on the market. For a company with 10 to 100 employees, this means that insolvency, a merger, a takeover or cessation of business is not a valid reason to take the data offline. How long must a digital product passport remain available? is therefore a question that is separate from the lifespan of the company itself — the passport must be maintained for the period applicable to the product category, even if the original market participant no longer exists.
The register records the registration, not the content
Article 13 of the ESPR regulates the register of digital product passports, in which certain data about the passport is recorded. That register is a source of information and a control tool, not a replacement for hosting. What exactly must be entered in that register and who enters it is described on What is the register of digital product passports and what do I need to enter in it?. For the question "what happens when the business ceases" it is relevant that a registration in the register says nothing about who is responsible for the underlying data at that time — that responsibility must be arranged separately, for example through a hosting party or a legal successor.
Continuity of hosting is a practical necessity, not an incidental choice
Because the legislation places the availability of the passport at its centre and not the continuation of the party that had the passport prepared, the practical solution lies in the choice of hosting. A company that uses its own server environment for the passport runs the risk that when business operations cease, the server, the domain name and the management capacity will also disappear. what must the hosting of my product passport comply with describes the requirements that a hosting solution must meet; among those requirements is also the question of who will continue hosting if the client no longer exists. An external party that provides hosting independently of the client's continued existence aligns better with an obligation that by definition lasts longer than an average business cycle.
The link to the passport must remain functional
The QR code on the product or packaging points to an address where the passport can be found, as described on How does the QR code for the digital product passport get on my electronics?. If the underlying URL disappears when business ceases — for example because a domain name is not renewed or an internal server is shut down — the code no longer works, even if the physical sticker is still intact. That risk is comparable to what is described on what if the QR code on my product is damaged or unreadable: the code itself is never the problem, the accessibility of the data behind it is.
Where things go wrong in practice
Domain name expires after insolvency. A liquidator or administrator of a company generally has other priorities than renewing a domain registration annually. If the passport is on its own domain, that domain will be lost if not renewed — and with it every QR code pointing to it.
Internal server is shut down during a takeover. When a company is taken over, the IT infrastructure of the acquired company is sometimes simply switched off because everything is migrated to the systems of the acquiring party. If that migration does not include the passport data, the data disappears unnoticed.
No one knows anymore who was responsible. In companies where the person who compiled the passport has since left, or in a takeover where departments have been merged, it is not always clear who has access to the management of the data. Without a documented transfer, that knowledge is lost before anything goes wrong.
Legal succession is unclear for the market surveillance authority. In the event of a merger or restart under a different name, it is not always immediately possible for a supervisory authority to determine which entity is responsible for a product that was placed on the market years earlier. This problem is particularly acute for products that require multiple product passports — when a chain of suppliers breaks apart, it is not immediately clear who manages which part of the data.
The link with the ERP system is disconnected. Companies that have the passport linked to their own ERP or inventory system run the risk that when that system is phased out — for example when inventory is sold or the licence is terminated — the link ceases to exist without a replacement, standalone version of the data being retained.
What you can document
- A hosting agreement that is independent of the existence of the own business — with an external party that continues the availability of the passport, regardless of what happens to the client.
- An overview of which products have which passport, including the associated unique identification code per product or product group, so that a successor or administrator can determine what exists and where it is located.
- An export file of the passport data in the submitted format, as described on in what format must I provide the product passport data, retained separately from the internal system with which it was compiled.
- A designated manager for administration, with a clear handover agreement in case that person leaves the company or the company changes ownership.
- A clause in acquisition contracts that explicitly includes the continuity of the product passport and associated hosting as part of the obligations to be transferred.
- A copy of the registration in the digital product passport register, so that in the event of a dispute or inspection it is clear what data were ever recorded and by whom.
Elektropas.com operates a hosting model for subscribers whereby the availability of the passport does not depend on the continued existence of the individual customer, with a fixed retention period that aligns with the obligation under the ESPR.
This is not legal advice. This page provides general information about the regulations that this platform covers. We are not familiar with your situation. If you are in doubt about your own case, consult a lawyer or the competent supervisory authority.
Written with AI based on the sources above, checked by a human on 2026-08-22. Is something incorrect? Let us know — corrections take priority.