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

What you must concretely do

What is expected of you

Once the obligation for a product passport for steel actually comes into force, something structural changes: steel without a passport may no longer be placed on the EU market or made available. What that concretely means depends on the role a company plays in the supply chain. Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 governs market surveillance of products in general, and that logic — that market actors are responsible for conformity, and that surveillance authorities may check this — is also the framework within which the product passport will be enforced.

Ensure the passport is in place before the product reaches the market

For manufacturers and importers, this means the passport becomes part of the process before a batch of steel is sold or delivered, not something that is added afterwards. For a company with 10 to 100 employees, this practically means that someone — often someone in quality, purchasing or logistics — is tasked with checking whether each batch has a passport before dispatch. Who plays what role in this is not self-evident for everyone; who is responsible for the product passport for steel? goes into this further, and for companies that import steel themselves it is also relevant whether they are regarded as an importer or as a manufacturer in doing so, as described in am I importer or manufacturer according to the ESPR?.

The passport must not disappear or become outdated in the supply chain

Article 40 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) addresses the prevention of circumvention and performance degradation — the passport must not be detached from the product, replaced by outdated information, or otherwise deprived of its function. For a trading company, this means that a passport that was correct upon receipt must still be correct and linked to the correct product upon sale. When repacking, regrouping batches or reselling under a different designation, there is a risk that the link between the physical product and the digital passport is lost.

Keep the QR data carrier physically present and readable

The passport must be accessible via a data carrier on or attached to the product. For a company that stores, cuts or repackages steel, this means there must be a practical routine to ensure that the data carrier (for example a label or QR code) travels with the material, even if it changes pallets or is sold in smaller units.

Respond to inquiries from surveillance authorities

Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 gives surveillance authorities the power to check documentation and conformity. For a company, this means there must be a point of contact and a file showing which passport belongs to which batch, and who supplied it.

Where things go wrong in practice

A number of situations come up repeatedly in practice. First: a batch of steel is purchased from a supplier outside the EU who does not yet supply a passport, and the Dutch buyer discovers too late that the responsibility may lie with him — this often happens when it has not been agreed in advance who performs which role, see my manufacturer is based outside the EU — who arranges the product passport then?.

Second: a trader cuts a coil into smaller units and sells them on, without the QR data carrier moving with each new unit. The information then still exists, but is no longer linked to the physical product that reaches the end user.

Third: a company sells steel under its own brand name or its own article code, without realizing that this rebranding entails its own set of obligations — this is elaborated further in I sell steel under my own brand — what obligations do I incur?.

Fourth: sales via an online marketplace, where it is unclear who in that transaction is the responsible party for the presence of the passport — a question that is addressed in what does the product passport mean if I sell steel via an online marketplace?.

Fifth: a distributor assumes that only the manufacturer has responsibilities, while distributors and traders can have their own additional obligations once they resell steel — see What obligations does a distributor or dealer of steel have?.

What you can document

• An overview per supplier of who delivers the product passport and at what point in the purchasing process this happens.
• An internal procedure for what happens if a batch of steel arrives without a passport: who is informed, and whether the batch is temporarily set aside.
• A record of which QR data carrier belongs to which batch and which passport, especially when material is cut, repackaged or combined.
• Agreements with your own customers about how the passport is transferred upon sale, including when selling in smaller units than the batch originally received.
• A designated contact point within the company for inquiries from a supervisory authority, with a file showing which passport belongs to which delivery.
• Where applicable, a note on how the product passport relates to other reporting obligations already in place, as discussed in how do I combine my CBAM reporting with the product passport.

Which supervisory authority in the Netherlands will concretely carry out inspections and what powers it will be given in this regard is not yet determined in detail; as soon as more information becomes available on this, it will be added here — see also which supervisory authority checks the product passport in the Netherlands. The same applies to the question of what fine may result from the absence of a passport: that amount is not yet established in the delegated act, and will be addressed in what fine can I receive if I don't have a product passport for my steel as soon as clarity is available on this. What is often overlooked further is the question of who is liable if the passport is present but the data in it is incorrect — this is a different issue than the absence of a passport, and will be addressed in who is liable if there is incorrect data in the product passport.