There is no fixed price for preparing staff for the digital product passport. The amount a company spends on this depends on three things: how many employees will deal with it in practice, how much knowledge already exists about the passport and the underlying regulation, and whether you choose internal briefing or external training. With a small team that only occasionally purchases steel or iron, it often remains limited to working time for reviewing information. With a company that has multiple departments all playing a role in procurement, administration or delivery, that adds up.
The core of the answer is therefore: the costs are not in a mandatory course or certificate, because that does not currently exist. They are in the time it takes to determine who within your organisation will be dealing with the passport, and to bring those people along at a practical level. This can be done internally, with a one-hour explanation or a short document, or it can be procured externally if there is a need for more extensive training.
Who within your company determines the scope
The largest cost item is rarely the briefing itself, but the preparatory work: determining which functions will later provide data, or check or forward it in the context of the digital product passport. For a trading company, this often involves procurement and logistics; for a processing company, also production administration. The more departments involved, the more time it takes to get everyone to the same level. This preparatory work is partly the same as determining which obligations apply to your situation, and can therefore be combined with that same exercise.
Internal briefing versus external training
A second factor is the choice between informing yourself and engaging an external party. Internal briefing mainly costs working time: someone puts the key points down on paper or explains them verbally, employees read or listen, there is room for questions. This is often sufficient for roles that the passport only touches on tangentially. For employees who will work with it daily, such as someone who becomes responsible for providing data, more extensive, possibly external training may be more appropriate. That choice determines the largest part of the amount, more than the content of the briefing itself.
What affects the timing of the costs
The obligations relating to the digital product passport for iron and steel follow from the European Commission's work programme for 2025-2030. The first delegated act is expected in 2026, with obligations entering into force eighteen months later; hence the current estimate of 2028. As long as that date is not definitively fixed, preparation is mainly a matter of raising awareness and ordering responsibilities, not of putting complete processes in place. This means that the costs are currently usually lower than they will be later, when concrete deadlines and data requirements are fixed.
How to make an initial estimate
To determine how much briefing your organisation needs, it is useful to first know what role your company is likely to have in the iron and steel chain: manufacturer, importer, distributor or processor. That role also determines which employees will later deal with the passport. With a few questions to get an initial indication of your situation you gain insight into where you roughly stand, which in turn helps you determine who within your organisation needs briefing and how extensive it should be.
It is not possible to state a general amount for this topic that applies to every company: costs range from a few hours of work time to a broader internal training round, depending on the size and role of your company. For questions about your specific situation, it is advisable to consult a lawyer or contact the competent supervisory authority; they can assess what is precisely relevant for your company. An overview of what subscriptions offer in terms of in-depth information and templates can be found on the pricing page and related information.
Would you like to get an idea first before you allocate time or budget for training? Do the free quick-scan or read the other topics in the list of frequently asked questions about the digital product passport.