How long must a digital product passport remain available?
At least ten years, regardless of who made the furniture
According to the ESPR, a digital product passport must remain available from the moment the furniture is placed on the market, and this continues for a period set to at least ten years in the regulation itself. This period is independent of the continued existence of the manufacturer or importer who originally had the passport prepared: if that company goes bankrupt, ceases operations, or is taken over, this does not change the obligation that the data remains findable and accessible. For product categories whose expected lifespan is longer than ten years — and furniture often falls into this category — the delegated act for that specific product category may establish a longer period. Ten years is therefore the statutory minimum from the ESPR itself, not necessarily the endpoint for furniture.
It concerns the passport, not the furniture
This rule concerns the availability of the data behind the QR code, not a warranty period or the expected useful life of the piece of furniture itself. A cabinet that is still in use after fifteen years does not necessarily need to have had a fifteen-year warranty — but the passport with data on materials, origin and repair options must remain accessible for as long as the required period runs. This explanation concerns the general rule from the ESPR that applies to digital product passports in general; the ESPR is a framework regulation that is supplemented for each product category with its own delegated act. For furniture, this supplementation does not yet exist. Other product categories that are further along in the ESPR process may therefore already have an established, possibly different period — this says nothing about what will apply to furniture.
The minimum is established, not the effective date for furniture
What is established is the rule itself: it is already in the ESPR, which has been in force since 2024. What is not yet established is from which moment this rule will concretely apply to furniture. This depends on the delegated act for the product category furniture, which does not yet exist. According to the ESPR Work Plan 2025-2030, this act is expected around 2028, but a fixed date is not certain — it is a plan, not a law. Until that act is published, there is no statutory obligation for furniture to maintain a digital product passport, and therefore no active obligation regarding how long that passport must remain available. Once the act is in place, the availability period will run from the moment a piece of furniture is placed on the market under that regulation.
What this means for preparation
Anyone who is already thinking about a product passport for furniture would be wise to start with the core of this rule: the data must survive the lifespan of their own company. In practice, this means that it is not sufficient to place passport data on your own server or in your own system that depends on the continued existence of the business. A second point is that the ultimate period for furniture may be longer than the ESPR minimum of ten years, because the delegated act takes into account the expected lifespan of the product category — and furniture often lasts longer than ten years. A third point is that it is worthwhile to follow the publication of the delegated act for furniture, because only then will the exact effective date and exact duration for this product category be established. Until then, preparation is wise, but there is no statutory clock running yet.
Based on: Articles 10 and 13 of the ESPR
The basis for this explanation lies in Article 10 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781), which describes the requirements for the digital product passport, including the period during which the passport must remain available and the independence of that availability from the continued existence of the economic operator that created the passport. Article 13 of the same regulation describes the register of digital product passports, which plays a role in keeping passports and their unique identifiers findable, even when the original supplier is no longer active. Together, both articles form the framework within which the subsequent, product group-specific rules for furniture will be developed.
Those wishing to prepare for this now should do two things: consult the official ESPR text for the precise wording of Articles 10 and 13, and keep an eye on the publication of the delegated act for furniture to see when and with what timeline this rule becomes concrete. Once that act is published, this page will be updated with the exact date and duration.
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 available on EUR-Lex. We refer per statement; you do not need to believe us.
What you concretely have to do
What is expected of you
Availability for a period to be determined per product category
The ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) establishes in Article 10 that the digital product passport must remain available, but the precise duration of this obligation will be elaborated per product category in a delegated act. For furniture, this act does not yet exist. What is already established, however, is the principle: the passport is not a one-time delivery at the point of sale, but something that persists as long as the product — and often also thereafter, for components such as repair, recycling or accountability — remains relevant. For a furniture manufacturer or importer, this means that the question "how long must this passport remain online" cannot currently be answered with a concrete figure, but the expectation of long-term availability already provides direction for how a company must organise its storage and hosting.
The link between the passport and the unique identification code remains in place
Article 10 of the ESPR links the passport to a unique identification code of the product. This code continues, even after sale, to refer to the same information. For a company with 10 to 100 employees, this means that the way in which each product receives a unique identification code cannot be viewed separately from the question of how long that passport must remain available: the code and the associated data together form the lifespan of the passport. Anyone who sets up this link carelessly, for example by reusing codes for a new product line, risks that old and new information become mixed up.
The passport must remain discoverable via the register
Article 13 of the ESPR requires registration of the passport in a central register. This registration is not something that happens once and can then be forgotten: as long as the passport must exist, it must also remain discoverable via that register. For a mid-sized furniture company, this means that the question "how long does the passport exist" is also a question about how long the registration in the European register is kept up to date. A passport that is still online but no longer correctly registered does not meet the intent of the obligation.
Availability even when the company itself no longer exists
A practical point that follows from the arrangement of Articles 10 and 13 together: the obligation is linked to the product, not to the continued existence of the manufacturer or importer. This raises a real question for smaller and medium-sized companies, namely what happens to the hosting obligation in the event of a takeover, insolvency or cessation of activities. This subject — what happens to the product passport if a company ceases operations — is directly linked to the duration of the storage obligation: a company that now has a passport hosted would do well to take into account from the outset a scenario in which it is no longer the party managing the data.
Where things go wrong in practice
A manufacturer assumes that the passport, like an instruction manual, "belongs with the product" and is therefore only relevant up to the point of sale. After the sale, hosting is discontinued or data is no longer maintained, whereas the purpose of the passport is precisely that it remains accessible throughout the lifespan of the furniture — and sometimes of components thereof.
A company changes software supplier or ERP system and does not carry over the old product passports in the migration. The QR code on previously sold furniture then points to a passport that is no longer maintained, while the physical code on the product remains intact. Anyone considering linking the passport to their own ERP or inventory systemwould do well to answer this migration question in advance.
An importer registers the passport upon publication but forgets to update the registration when data changes — for example after an adjustment in material composition. The subject amending data after publication only becomes relevant when a supervisor or customer flags a discrepancy, whereas it would have been better to establish it as a fixed process beforehand.
A small company assumes that the hosting party will naturally continue to exist as long as the furniture exists, without establishing this contractually. If the hosting service is discontinued — for example because a supplier goes bankrupt — there is no safety net, while the obligation to keep the passport available remains with the company itself.
A manufacturer of assembled furniture treats each component as a separate passport with its own lifespan, without clearly explaining how those components relate to the whole. This makes it difficult to determine when which part of the information must still be available; this topic relates to the question of whether each component receives its own passport or the furniture as a whole.
What you can put in order now
- An internal agreement on who is responsible for keeping passport data current, even after a reorganization or staff turnover.
- An agreement with the hosting party specifying what happens if the service is discontinued, bankruptcy occurs, or a takeover takes place — including a data transfer scenario.
- A procedure for updating the registration in the register when product data changes, so that registration and passport do not get out of sync.
- A migration plan for when switching software systems, so that existing passports and their unique identification codes remain intact.
- An overview of which product groups and components are registered separately, so that if the retention period is adjusted in the future, it is quickly clear which passports are affected.
- A contact point or clause for the situation that the company itself ceases operations, so that the obligation to make the passport available does not end up in a legal vacuum.
Once the delegated act for furniture establishes the precise retention period, this part of the page will be supplemented with the concrete number of years.
This is not legal advice. This page provides general information about the legislation that this platform concerns. We do not know your situation. If in doubt about your own case, consult a lawyer or the competent supervisory authority.
Written with AI based on the sources above, reviewed by a human on 2026-08-22. Is something wrong? Let us know — corrections take priority.