What happens if I don't have a digital product passport for my furniture?

What you concretely have to do

What is expected of you

Once the delegated act for furniture enters into force, a digital product passport must be included with any piece of furniture placed on the market. That passport is not a separate document that "also has to be added", but part of the product itself: without a passport, a piece of furniture within the scope of that obligation is not complete. What this concretely means depends on the role that a company plays in the supply chain.

Ensuring that a passport exists

The party qualifying as a manufacturer bears the responsibility that a passport exists for a product, with correct and up-to-date information. For a company with 10 to 100 employees, this often means that one person or department must keep track: which product lines are already covered, which are not yet, and what information (materials, origin, repair information) is needed for them. Anyone unsure whether that role lies with their own company can read about it in more detail on who is responsible for the product passport for furniture?.

Knowing what role you play

Not every company is a manufacturer in the sense of the regulation, even if it feels that way. A company that imports furniture from a country outside the EU, or that has furniture made under its own brand, may have the same obligations as a manufacturer. The question am I an importer or manufacturer according to the ESPR? is therefore not only theoretical: it determines who must have the passport compiled and who is accountable for it.

Keeping the passport accessible

A passport that exists but is not reachable via the QR data carrier on the product does not actually meet the purpose of the regulation. For a growing company, this means that the link between product, data carrier and online passport must be part of the production process, not a manual post-processing step that gets skipped when things get busy.

Responding to requests from enforcement authorities

Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 gives market surveillance authorities the power to request documentation and conformity information from economic operators. A company that places a piece of furniture on the market without a passport, or with a passport that does not match the delivered product, risks a surveillance authority asking questions about it. Distributors and retailers who resell a product may also encounter this; what is specifically expected of them is stated on what obligations does a distributor or retailer of furniture have?.

Not circumventing or weakening performance

Article 40 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) is aimed at preventing circumvention and weakening of performance: adapting or presenting a product so that it appears to comply without actually doing so falls under this. For practical purposes, this means that a passport that exists but contains outdated, incomplete or deliberately favourable information does not serve the same function as a passport that correctly describes the product.

Where things go wrong in practice

A new collection goes out the door without a passport. At a product launch, attention is focused on design, price and delivery time. The passport will "be taken care of later" — and then remains undone until a customer, purchaser or enforcement authority asks for it.

Private label furniture is sold without it being clear who supplies the information. A retail chain sells furniture under its own brand, manufactured by a third party. Both parties think the other is supplying the passport information. An explanation of who exactly is responsible in that relationship is on who must provide the passport data for private label furniture.

A supplier outside the EU supplies incomplete information. An importer orders a furniture line from a manufacturer outside the Union and only discovers when compiling the passport that material information or repair information is missing. What is and is not on the importer's plate is described on my manufacturer is outside the EU — who arranges the product passport then?.

Sale via a marketplace without anyone linking the passport to the listing. A piece of furniture is offered via an online marketplace, but the QR code or link to the passport is missing from the product page, even though it is on the physical product — or vice versa.

Existing stock will be sold without a passport after the obligation date. A company assumes that furniture already produced before the implementation date will not be affected, without having verified this. That assumption deserves a check on does the product passport also apply to furniture that I am already bringing to market.

What you can put in order now

• An overview of product lines with the passport status per line: available, in preparation, or not yet started.
• Agreements with suppliers and manufacturers about who provides which data, and at what point in the production process — including what happens if data is missing or proves to be incorrect. See also what is at stake with who is liable for incorrect data from a supplier in the passport.
• A documented procedure for linking the QR data carrier to the physical product and to the online listing when selling through own channels or a marketplace.
• An internal contact point or responsible role for maintaining passport data, including updates when changes occur in material or composition.
• Documentation on the retention period and availability of spare parts, insofar as relevant to the passport of a product line — more on that at how long must I keep spare parts for furniture available?.
• A file per product line with the underlying sources of the passport data, so that when a regulator or trading partner makes an inquiry, it is quickly clear where the information comes from.