What documents do I need for the digital product passport for steel?
To create a digital product passport for iron or steel, three types of documents are typically required: administrative documents that identify the product and batch, technical documents that record the composition and properties of the material, and data on origin and sustainability such as recycling percentage or CO2 footprint. For iron and steel, one document is clearly the focal point: the material certificate, also known as the test certificate or inspection certificate.
This is because the identity of a steel or iron semi-finished product depends almost entirely on chemical composition and mechanical properties. Where other product categories benefit from a product photo or type plate, for a steel profile or sheet, composition is the only truly distinguishing factor. The exact set of data that the future delegated act will require is not yet established. What follows below is a description of the documents that are already common practice in the sector and which logically form the basis for the passport.
Administrative documents: where the product comes from
The first layer consists of documents that every trading company already knows: the purchase order, the delivery note or packing slip, and the invoice. These documents record which supplier a batch comes from, the date the batch was delivered and the quantity involved. For the passport, they are particularly important for linking a batch to the correct technical data: without that link, you know that a certificate exists, but not which batch it belongs to.
Technical documents: the material certificate as the core
The second layer is the material certificate, usually drawn up in accordance with the European standard for inspection documents of metal products. This certificate states the chemical composition, mechanical properties such as tensile strength and yield strength, and often also the heat number by which the steel can be traced back to a specific production batch. There are different types of certificates, with increasing levels of independent inspection. Which type you receive from your supplier partly determines how complete the technical basis of the passport can be. This is also the detail that is most often missing or incomplete in practice: certificates are archived per shipment, but not always digitally and not always traceable to the specific batch that ultimately reaches a customer.
Sustainability data: origin, recycling percentage and CO2
The third layer is newer for many companies in the chain: data on the share of recycled material, the origin of the raw material and the CO2 emissions of the production process. This data is typically provided by the manufacturer or importer, not by the trader or processor themselves. For companies that buy and resell or process steel, it is mainly important to know that this data exists somewhere in the chain and does not need to be calculated themselves. Who must or must not do this depends on the role a company plays in the chain; that subject is covered in more detail in the overview per role in the chain.
What you can prepare now
Even without the exact requirements being established, it is worthwhile to check which of these documents your company already receives and how they are stored. An organized archive of material certificates, linked to the correct batches and suppliers, is work that is useful in any case and does not need to be repeated later. Companies that are uncertain whether their current documentation provides a sufficient basis can get a few questions to give you a first indication of where you stand. It is also advisable to discuss with your own software supplier whether certificates are already recorded digitally and in a structured manner, or whether this is still a manual step.
What is not yet established
The precise list of mandatory data, the format in which they must be submitted and the deadlines for doing so follow from the delegated act that the European Commission has yet to publish. Once that text is available, this article will be supplemented with the exact requirements. Until then, the safest preparation is: putting existing documentation in order and making it traceable, without anticipating obligations that are not yet officially established. For the precise source of each piece of information we publish, you can always refer to the explanation of where our information comes from.
Do you need a concrete overview for your own situation? Take the free quick-scan or browse through the topics in the knowledge base; there you will also find answers to questions not covered in this article, for example in the list of frequently asked questions.