Many entrepreneurs who hear about the digital product passport quickly ask themselves another question: who is actually going to check this? The regulation itself establishes that member states are responsible for monitoring compliance, through so-called market surveillance authorities. Which authority this will be in the Netherlands specifically for furniture, and what that monitoring will look like in practice, is not yet fully determined at this moment.
That does not mean there is nothing to say. The regulation describes the principle of market surveillance: authorities that may monitor products on the market, may request documentation and may intervene if a product does not meet the requirements. For furniture this will probably run along the same lines as what already apply to product safety, but the precise designation for the furniture passport is not yet established and must be derived from the official text and the implementing rules that will be added to it.
What the regulation itself provides for regarding supervision
The core of the system is that the European Union sets the standard, and the member states organize enforcement. Each member state appoints market surveillance authorities for this purpose. These authorities receive powers to carry out sampling checks, request information from suppliers and, where necessary, remove products from the market. This is not a new idea: for other product categories this system already exists, and the regulation for the digital product passport follows suit.
Where the regulation is less concrete is the precise division between authorities within a country. For furniture it would seem logical that supervision is embedded in existing structures for product safety and market surveillance, but which authority in the Netherlands will specifically have that role for the furniture passport is not yet laid down in an official designation. Anyone who wants certainty on this would do well to continue following the official EU text and communications from the Dutch authorities.
How monitoring will likely work in practice
With comparable legislation, market surveillance usually takes place through a combination of sampling checks, complaints from third parties and targeted checks at import. For the furniture passport it would seem logical that a supervisory authority in such a situation would ask whether the passport exists, whether the QR code works, and whether the information matches what is actually in the product. That is a different question from how strict or frequent this happens; the regulation itself does not make any statement on this, and supervisory authorities determine this themselves within their mandate.
For a company, this mainly means that the emphasis is on being able to demonstrate, not on fine words. A passport that only exists on paper but does not match the actual composition of a product is precisely the kind of discrepancy that comes to light during an inspection. Companies that want to see how such a passport is structured in practice and where the information comes from can read about it via an overview of where the information in the passport comes from.
What this means for your own situation
Whether and how your company will be subject to market surveillance depends on your role in the chain: are you a manufacturer, importer or only a retailer of furniture that already has a passport. This division of roles also determines who must be able to show which information at the moment a supervisory authority asks for it. Anyone who is unsure which role applies to their company will find an explanation about it in the knowledge base with explanations for each situation.
Because the designation of the Dutch supervisory authority has not yet been finalized, it is too early to say how often inspections will take place or what the consequences of non-compliance will be. This is also not an assessment that belongs on this page: for statements about your own situation, and about the way supervision is carried out, the competent supervisory authority itself or a lawyer is the right source.
What is not yet settled and what is
It is established that market surveillance will take place, and that this will be organized at national level within a European framework. What is not yet settled is which Dutch authority will fulfill that role specifically for furniture, and how strict or frequent inspections will be. As soon as more becomes known about this, that is the kind of change that companies with a subscription will automatically receive a notification about.
Anyone who wants to know how these uncertainties relate to their own business situation can go through the most frequently asked questions about the furniture passport via the overview of frequently asked questions. This often gives a first direction, without you having to immediately start a legal process.
Do you want to quickly find out where your company stands in relation to the furniture passport, without immediately creating an account? Do the free quick-scan via a short scan that gives an initial indication in five questions and read on at your own pace in the knowledge bank at a time that suits you.