If a supplier does not provide complete or incomplete data for the digital product passport, the obligation does not disappear. The regulation places responsibility for a complete and correct passport with the supplier: usually the manufacturer, or the importer when the product comes from outside the EU. A supplier who does not cooperate is therefore a problem for your company, not only for the supplier itself.
In practice, this means that without the correct data you cannot compile a passport that meets the requirements. For some product groups, the passport becomes part of the conditions for offering the product on the European market, once the delegated act for that group has been published. As long as that act does not exist, there are no hard requirements yet, but it is wise to know now where your dependence on your supplier lies.
Why responsibility remains with you
The regulation distinguishes between who provides the data and who is responsible for the passport. A component supplier, a factory in another country or a software supplier can provide the source data, but the supplier who places the product on the market in the EU remains accountable. This follows from how the chain is structured in the regulation: responsibility lies with the party that makes the product available, not with each link that has contributed to it.
This distinction is precisely why many companies only realize late that there is a gap in their data chain. An importer who assumes that the manufacturer has already recorded everything sometimes only discovers when compiling the passport that crucial information is missing. Anyone who wants to know what role their company plays in the chain will find a more detailed explanation in the knowledge base on roles in the chain.
What consequences may follow
The regulation itself describes that member states monitor compliance and that sanctions may follow when a product does not meet the requirements. Specific amounts, deadlines or a fixed procedure per product group are not yet fixed everywhere; these follow partly from the delegated acts and partly from how each member state arranges the monitoring. Supervisors look at the entire documentation: is the information complete, is it correct, and can it be traced back to a source.
What is clear: a missing or incorrect passport affects not only the administration. It can make it difficult to offer the product on the market, and it can raise questions from customers, distributors or other parties in your own sales chain who themselves also have to be able to account for themselves. For the precise consequences in your situation, it is advisable to consult the official text or involve a lawyer; this article only describes how the regulation is structured.
How you can limit the risk now
The biggest risk is not in the rules themselves, but in the dependence on third parties whose reliability you have not yet tested. A number of steps companies are already taking: checking which suppliers and sub-suppliers must provide data, recording this in the purchase contract, and agreeing what happens if data is missing or changes. With new contracts, this is easier to arrange than afterwards with an ongoing relationship.
The conversation with a software supplier deserves special attention, especially when software is part of the product or of data processing relating to the passport. Which questions belong to this can be found in the knowledge base. If you first want an indication of whether your product group and your chain already fall within the scope of the regulation, then the free product scan in a few questions get a first picture. Those who would prefer to first understand how data is collected and checked at elektropas.com will find that explained on the page on how it works.
A missing supplier is therefore not a peripheral issue but a core risk for the product passport itself. By mapping this out early, you prevent having to track down data shortly before a mandatory date that can no longer be obtained.
Curious where your company stands? Take the free quick-scan or browse through the topics in the knowledge base to see what is relevant for your situation.