Many entrepreneurs who look into the digital product passport ultimately ask the same question: what actually happens if I don't arrange this? The short answer is that the regulation itself provides for monitoring and enforcement by the competent authorities in each EU Member State, but the exact consequences differ depending on the situation. For iron and steel, this is furthermore not yet fully established, because the delegated act that makes the obligations for this product group concrete has not yet been published.
What is clear: as soon as the obligation for a product group comes into effect, the requirement applies that a product that falls within the scope must be accompanied by a valid passport. If that passport is missing, incomplete, or if the QR data carrier is not present on or with the product, that is in principle a deviation from the regulation. What exact steps a supervisory authority takes in this regard, what correction periods apply and what sanctions may follow, is described in the regulation and the associated implementing rules themselves. This is different from an advance assessment of how strict or quick that will be in practice; we cannot and will not provide that assessment here.
What 'not arranging' can mean in practice
The concept is broader than simply 'not having a passport at all'. Also think of a passport that has been created but whose data does not match the delivered product, a passport that does not remain available for the full intended duration, or a QR code that has been printed but does not point to the correct, up-to-date data. Each of these situations relates to a different obligation within the regulation. Anyone who wants to know which data and documents belong precisely to which obligation will find that overview by topic in the knowledge base with explanation per situation.
Who this may affect
The regulation places the obligations primarily on the economic operator: usually the manufacturer or the importer who places the product on the EU market for the first time. But a missing or incorrect passport can also have consequences for parties further down the chain, such as a steel trader or a processing company that resells or processes the product. Although they are not always themselves the economic operator, they can in practice have to deal with it: for example, because a customer asks for the passport, because a procurement contract refers to it, or because a supervisory authority asks during an inspection where the product comes from. For this reason, it is useful for everyone in the chain to know what their own role is and what that entails.
Monitoring and the role of competent authorities
Monitoring of the regulation is the responsibility of the market surveillance authorities designated by the Member States for this purpose, in cooperation within the EU. In the Netherlands, this monitoring also takes place through existing structures for market surveillance and product safety. These authorities determine themselves, within the framework of the regulation, how they monitor and what steps they take in case of a deviation. This also means that we do not make any predictions on this page about how strict, how quick or how frequently monitoring will take place. Anyone who wants certainty about this is best advised to consult the official text of the regulation or contact the competent supervisory authority or a lawyer. An overview of frequently asked questions on this subject can be found on the page with answers to questions that entrepreneurs often ask.
The relationship with existing obligations
The digital product passport does not replace existing rules, but operates alongside them. CE marking, existing product safety requirements and other obligations that already apply to iron and steel remain fully in force, regardless of the passport. A product that already fails to comply with current rules can therefore already have consequences, entirely independent of whether the passport is already in place. The passport adds a layer: it makes certain data that already exist somewhere digitally available and traceable through a single fixed point of access. How that data is collected and where exactly it comes from is explained on the page about the origin of the data in a passport.
What you can do about it now
Because the start date for iron and steel has not yet been fixed, there is no reason to act hastily. However, it is wise to establish now which data about your products are available, which role each party in your chain fulfils, and which documents will be needed once the obligation becomes concrete. This prevents you from having to start searching when the obligation comes into force. You can get a first impression of where you stand by going through the product scan with a few short questions ; that gives an immediate indication, without requiring an account.
If you want to look more broadly than just this question about consequences, you will find in the knowledge base the other topics around the digital product passport, from roles in the chain to the interaction with rules that were already there. The free quick-scan and the knowledge base are a good starting point to determine what is relevant for your company, without you first needing to become a lawyer.