Does the product passport apply to steel semi-finished products?

What you must concretely do

Steel plate, reinforcement steel, tubes, profiles, coils: almost everything that steel traders deal with is, in legal terms, not an "end product" but a semi-finished product. It is further processed, welded, bent, assembled into something else. For many entrepreneurs in the steel sector, this is reason to think that the digital product passport does not affect them: that would be something for the manufacturer of the final machine or the final structure. That assumption is not self-evidently correct, and that is precisely why this subject requires closer examination.

The ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) makes no general distinction between semi-finished product and end product as such in Article 1 and Article 2. The regulation speaks of products and of product groups that are designated through delegated acts. Whether a semi-finished steel product falls under the obligations does not depend on the question of whether it is an "intermediate product", but on the question of whether the product group to which it belongs has been designated in a delegated act. That designation does not yet exist for steel. What will fall under it precisely is described on the page about which products from the steel sector fall under the ESPR.

What is expected of you

Checking whether your product group has been designated

The obligations from the ESPR do not arise from the regulation itself, but from the delegated act that designates a specific product group. For a company with 10 to 100 employees, this means in practice: no action is yet required on the basis of Article 1 or Article 2 alone, but it is advisable to monitor which product groups are included in the delegated acts and whether steel products — semi-finished product or not — are mentioned in them. How that designation works exactly is explained on the page about what a delegated act is and why it determines what you must do.

Making a distinction between "falling under the regulation" and "having obligations"

Article 1 of the ESPR describes a broad scope of application: almost all physical goods placed on the market can potentially fall under the regulation. That is different from having to provide a passport now. For a mid-sized metal company, this means it is advisable to keep a sharp distinction between which stage of regulation is current: the broad scope of application of the regulation, or the concrete obligation from a delegated act for a specific product group. An overview of that distinction is on the page about what exactly changes for the steel sector.

Cooperating as a supplier, even without your own obligation

Even when a semi-finished product itself is not designated, it is possible that the customer — a construction company or machinery manufacturer — falls under a designated product category and needs data on the composition, origin or properties of the steel to compile its own product passport. For a steel trader or metal processor, this means it can be practical to already keep track of which data customers request, even if there is no legal obligation yet to include that data in a product passport. Which data is typically involved is described on the page about what data is included in the steel product passport.

Where things go wrong in practice

Assumption based on "it is only a semi-finished product". A manufacturing company completely ignores the subject because it thinks that only end products fall under the ESPR. This distinction is not stated as such in Article 1 or Article 2; the risk is that a company starts preparing too late once a product category is designated after all.

Confusion between "steel" as a material and "steel product" as a product category. Some companies think there will be one ESPR rule for "steel". In reality, the regulation works with product categories, which are established per delegated act and which can be specific (for example, reinforcing steel, or plates for a specific application). A generic assumption about "steel" leads to incorrect expectations.

Customer questions that anticipate obligations that do not yet exist. A customer is already asking for a digital product passport, while no delegated act has yet been published for the relevant product group. A supplier who agrees to this without checking the legal status may be making commitments that do not align with what is actually mandatory.

Unclear distinction between chain obligation and own obligation. A semi-finished steel supplier assumes that, because the customer must provide a passport, the supplier itself must also draw up a passport. This is not automatically the case: the obligation may lie with the party placing the end product on the market, while the supplier only provides data.

Underestimating the time required to adapt internal systems. Even without a concrete obligation now, it may be the case that data on composition or origin are not systematically recorded. When a delegated act does come into force, it may then become apparent that there is little time to reconstruct data.

What you can document

• An overview of which product groups from own production or trade may be relevant for future delegated acts, so that this can be checked periodically against published ESPR work programmes.
• An internal note of which customers or buyers are already asking questions about a digital product passport, and for what reasons.
• A basic file per product line with data that are presumed to be relevant (composition, origin, process data), even without a legal obligation to do so now — this aligns with the question of which data typically appear in such a passport.
• Agreements with suppliers about which information they can provide, recorded in a purchase or supply agreement, so that the own chain does not become stuck once an obligation arises.
• A note on the status of commercially sensitive information: which data a company does keep internally but does not wish to share externally without further consideration, relevant to the question of whether commercially sensitive data about steel must be disclosed publicly.
• A periodic review of own situation against the question of whether own company, despite a limited number of employees, may nevertheless face these obligations — see the explanation on the product passport and small businesses.

For semi-finished steel products, then, there is no ready-made answer based on their status as "semi-finished product" alone. The outcome depends on which product group is applicable and whether a delegated act has been published for it — something that has yet to be seen.