what fine can I receive if I don't have a product passport for my steel

What you must concretely do

What is expected of you

The question "what fine applies to the absence of a product passport" cannot be answered with an amount at this time. The ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) leaves the establishment of sanctions to the EU member states. The Netherlands must therefore establish its own sanctions regime, and this does not yet exist. What is already in place is the framework within which market surveillance and enforcement will take place: Regulation (EU) 2019/1020. That regulation governs how market surveillance authorities may monitor products and what measures they can take if a product does not meet the requirements — independent of the question what monetary amount will ultimately be linked to it.

For a company with between 10 and 100 employees, it is more practical to look at what is already established than to wait for a fine schedule that does not yet exist.

Ensuring that the product has a passport before it is placed on the market

The obligation to ensure that a product passport is present rests with the person who places the product on the market. Who exactly that is varies depending on the situation: a manufacturer, an importer from outside the EU, or sometimes a distributor selling under its own brand. A company of this size is well advised to determine for each product line who in the supply chain fulfils that role, as this determines who must have the passport drawn up and who is accountable for it. This is precisely where many companies already run into problems before market surveillance is even discussed — see who is responsible for the product passport for steel?.

Determining whether you are a manufacturer, importer or something else

The obligations arising from the ESPR differ by role. A company that sources steel from a country outside the EU and sells it under its own name can be classified as an importer or even as a manufacturer for those products, with the corresponding obligations. This distinction is not always self-evident and deserves a separate assessment — see am I importer or manufacturer according to the ESPR?.

Do not allow the passport to be manipulated or circumvented

Article 40 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) requires prevention of circumvention and of deterioration of performance that would otherwise be visible in the product passport. Specifically, this means that a company must not manipulate the "improvement" of data without this reflecting the actual composition or performance of the steel. For a production company, this particularly concerns quality assurance: the data supplied for the passport must correspond to what is actually produced and delivered.

Cooperation with market surveillance

Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 grants supervisory authorities powers to request documentation, inspect products and require corrective measures. For a company of this size, this means there must be someone who knows where the underlying data for the product passport come from and who can demonstrate this upon request. Which supervisory authority will do this in the Netherlands in practice and how these inspections will proceed is discussed on which supervisory authority checks the product passport in the Netherlands.

Where things go wrong in practice

An importer assumes that the foreign manufacturer remains responsible. Once steel from outside the EU is imported and the manufacturer has no contact point in the EU itself, the role of "responsible party" may shift to the importer itself, even if the importer does not explicitly agree to this. This is set out further on my manufacturer is located outside the European Union — who regulates the product passport then?.

A trader sells steel under its own brand name without realising that this entails a different role. Applying its own brand to a product manufactured elsewhere may, under the ESPR framework, lead to manufacturer obligations. Anyone who overlooks this may miss not only the product passport but also the associated responsibilities — see I sell steel under my own brand — what obligations do I incur?.

A wholesaler assumes that only the manufacturer has to do something, and not itself. A distributor or trader has its own, more limited obligations, such as checking whether a product passport is present before the product is resold. Failure to do so may make the distributor itself subject to market surveillance — see What obligations does a distributor or dealer of steel have?.

Sales via an online marketplace are treated as "ordinary" sales. Sales via a platform raise specific points of attention about who must provide which information at the time of offering, before any physical delivery takes place — see what does the product passport mean if I sell steel via an online marketplace?.

Data in the product passport no longer match the actual batch of steel. This can happen due to an error in data submission, due to a change in the production process that has not been updated in the product passport, or due to insufficient coordination between production and administration. Who is responsible for this is a separate question that is independent of whether a fine is imposed — see who is liable if there is incorrect data in the product passport.

What you can document

• An overview per product line of who in the supply chain is designated as manufacturer, importer, distributor or brand owner, and on what basis that role has been determined.
• The underlying source files used to compile the product passport, including the date of submission and who submitted the data.
• Correspondence with the manufacturer or importer concerning the accuracy of the submitted data, especially when the manufacturer is established outside the EU.
• An internal arrangement on who within the company is responsible for keeping passport data up to date when production processes change.
• A decision on whether to outsource the compilation and management of product passports, and the arrangements made with an external party in this regard — see also do I need extra staff for the product passport or can I outsource it.
• For companies that also report under CBAM: an overview of where the data flows for CBAM and for the product passport overlap, to prevent duplication and contradictory figures — see how do I combine my CBAM reporting with the product passport.

Once the delegated act for steel has been published and the Netherlands has established a sanctions regime, this article will be supplemented with the specific amounts and deadlines. Until then, documenting roles, sources and arrangements is the most concrete step a company can take itself.