Must I disclose business-sensitive data about my furniture?

Not all data in the passport will be publicly available

No, not every piece of data that will be included in the digital product passport will automatically be visible to everyone. The ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) distinguishes in the design of the passport between information that is accessible to the general public and information that is only available to certain parties, such as supervisory authorities, customs or other actors in the supply chain. This distinction is precisely intended to create room for data that a manufacturer or importer does not wish to share with competitors or the general public, while supervision and enforcement can access the full information.

Who this applies to and what does not

This question is relevant to everyone who supplies or has the passport compiled: furniture manufacturers, importers and project managers who must provide data on materials, composition, origin or production processes. This involves information that may be commercially sensitive, such as the precise formulation of a coating, the identity of a specific supplier, or technical specifications that provide a competitive advantage.

This is not about the question of whether a furniture passport will come into existence, or which data must be included in it from a substantive perspective — that will be determined separately per product category in a delegated act that has not yet been published for furniture. Nor is it about a general right to withhold information: the ESPR actually requires the provision of data for the passport. What it is about is the question of who will subsequently be allowed to access that data — and that is a different issue than whether the data exists or must be provided.

No date yet, but a framework

For furniture, it has not yet been determined from when a digital product passport will be mandatory. The delegated act that elaborates this per product group is expected around 2028 according to the ESPR work plan for the period 2025-2030. As long as that act is not in place, it is also not clear which specific data for furniture must be included in the passport, and which of these are public and which have limited access. What is already established is the framework from the ESPR itself: Article 10 provides that the passport operates with different access levels, and Article 38 regulates the obligations of actors in the supply chain to provide information. Once the delegated act for furniture has been published, the date and content of the obligation will be updated here.

What this means for compiling the passport

When submitting data for a furniture passport, the distinction between "must be provided" and "must be public" is a useful starting point to keep in mind. In practice, this amounts to a number of steps. First, it is determined which data the delegated act for furniture will precisely require — that is not yet known, but the general structure of the ESPR already shows that not everything will necessarily be public by definition. Next, it is useful to inventory within your own organisation which data is considered commercially sensitive, so that this can be taken into account when submitting to a service provider such as furnipas. After that, it is up to the elaboration of the delegated act and the associated technical standards to determine which data categories fall under which access level — public, limited to market participants, or limited to supervisory authorities. Until that elaboration is in place, it is prudent to base the compilation of the passport on the data that is legally required to be provided, and not to anticipate a classification that is not yet established.

For those already collecting data with a view to a future passport, it is practical to distinguish between data that is functionally necessary for repair, recycling or sustainability claims — which will be intended for a broader public — and data that is primarily relevant for supervision and enforcement, such as internal test results or supplier details. That latter category is precisely what the access restrictions in Article 10 appear to be designed for.

Where this is stated: Article 10 and 38 of the ESPR

Article 10 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) describes the requirements for the digital product passport, including the arrangement with different access rights for different user groups. Article 38 of the same regulation describes the obligations of actors in the supply chain to provide the necessary information for the passport. Together, these articles form the framework within which, per product group, a delegated act will subsequently lay down which data are mandatory and who has access to it.

What can be done now

At the moment, it is primarily useful to map out internally which data on materials, composition and origin are available and which of those are considered commercially sensitive, so that this overview is ready as soon as the delegated act for furniture is published. The official text of the ESPR and the announcement of the delegated act for furniture remain the source for the final classification; this page will be updated as soon as that act is published.