Update — August 2026: Since this article was first published, the EU DPP Registry has launched (20 July 2026), with a public testing environment and API. Registration is open now via the registry's UI or API, and produces a proof-of-registration document. The sections below have been updated to reflect this; the multi-registry guidance (GS1 Digital Link, IDTA AAS) still applies.
If you have been trying to understand where to register your Digital Product Passports, you have probably encountered a landscape with several moving parts: the EU DPP Registry, GS1 Digital Link, IDTA Asset Administration Shell, the CIRPASS-2 interoperability framework, and national registry initiatives. The EU DPP Registry is now the authoritative index for DPP identifiers — but it stores unique identifiers and commodity codes only. Your actual passport data still lives with you (or your DPP service provider), so the other pieces below remain relevant.
This matters practically because the DPP you create today needs to be discoverable by EU customs and market surveillance authorities in 2027. If you skip registration — or only cover one discovery path — you may need to redo the work.
The EU DPP Registry: Live Since 20 July 2026
The EU DPP Registry is the Commission's central index of DPP identifiers, so any ESPR-compliant resolver can locate the authoritative data endpoint for a given product. It went live on 20 July 2026 with a public testing environment and API, and registration produces a proof-of-registration document. Note that it stores identifiers and commodity codes only — the passport data itself stays with the economic operator or their DPP service provider.
What this means: you can and should register with the EU DPP Registry now, using the CIRPASS-2 format. Art. 77/78 delegated acts governing the full data model per product category are still being finalised, so treat your registration payload as versioned — expect schema refinements as those acts are adopted.
The CIRPASS-2 registration format — which PassportLab implements — uses POST /metadata/v1/registerDPP with fields including upi (unique product identifier), reoId (economic operator EORI), liveURL, backupURL, granularityLevel, and facilitiesId. This is the format the live EU DPP Registry accepts today.
GS1 Digital Link: The De Facto Standard
GS1 Digital Link is not a registry — it is a URL syntax standard that encodes GTIN, serial number, and other GS1 identifiers into a resolvable URL. The format /01/{gtin}/21/{serial} is already widely adopted in retail and logistics, and ESPR delegated acts reference it explicitly for physical product identification.
GS1 Germany (a PassportLab partner) operates a resolver infrastructure that can redirect GS1 Digital Link URLs to any registered endpoint. If your product has a GTIN, registering with GS1 is effectively mandatory — not because the regulation says so, but because supply chain partners (retailers, logistics providers, customs pre-filing systems) increasingly expect it.
GS1 Digital Link is the best-supported path to physical product identification today. It is not, however, a full DPP registry. It does not store your DPP data — it resolves to where your data is hosted.
IDTA AAS: The Industrial Track
The Industrial Digital Twin Association (IDTA) Asset Administration Shell format is primarily used in industrial supply chains — machinery, automotive, industrial electronics. If you supply Tier 1 manufacturers in Germany, France, or Italy, there is a growing expectation that your product DPP will be expressible as an AAS submodel.
The ESPR regulations do not mandate AAS format, but the IDTA has working groups aligning AAS submodels with ESPR data requirements. For industrial product manufacturers, AAS compatibility will likely become a commercial requirement from large buyers before it becomes a regulatory one.
PassportLab generates AAS-compatible JSON at GET /public/dpp/{code}/aas.json covering Nameplate, TechnicalData, CarbonFootprint, Circularity, and EnergyConsumption submodels. This is available today for products where the data fields are populated.
The Practical Answer: Multi-Registry Resilience
Given the fragmented registry landscape, the pragmatic approach is not to pick one and hope it wins. It is to structure your DPP so it can be registered in multiple places simultaneously without creating conflicting records.
The key requirements for multi-registry registration:
- Stable canonical URL: your DPP must have a URL that will not change. This is your primary endpoint. Every registry points here.
- Backup URL: a secondary endpoint that serves identical data if the primary is unreachable. Required by CIRPASS-2, recommended by ESPR.
- GS1 Digital Link: if your product has a GTIN, register the resolver redirect. This is the lowest friction path for supply chain discovery.
- EU DPP Registry: register now via the CIRPASS-2 format — the registry and its API have been live since 20 July 2026.
- AAS endpoint: if your supply chain includes industrial buyers, expose the AAS submodels now. Retrofitting this later is expensive.
The question is not "which registry?" — it is "how do I stay registered across all of them as the landscape settles?"
PassportLab registers DPPs with the live EU DPP Registry (CIRPASS-2 format), resolves via GS1 Digital Link today, and generates AAS submodels automatically. See our registry documentation or start with a free DPP.