can my customers check the product passport data before they buy

Yes, via the QR code on the tyre or the packaging

Customers considering purchasing a tyre can view the data from the digital product passport before purchase by scanning the data carrier — usually a QR code — affixed to the tyre, the packaging, or the accompanying label. That is precisely the idea behind the passport: information that is now often scattered across datasheets, packaging, and website texts is brought together in one place and can be consulted on a mobile phone at the moment someone is standing in front of the shelf or comparing online. The regulation stipulates that the data carrier must be physically present on or attached to the product, so that access to the passport does not depend on a seller having to look up or provide the information.

For whom this applies, and what a customer cannot do with it

This applies to the data included in the passport on the basis of the product requirements for tyres still to be determined: these are technical and sustainability data, not price, not stock information, and not personal purchase history. A customer scanning the QR code will see what has been recorded about the product — not whether the tyre is in stock at that particular shop or what other customers have paid. It is also important to distinguish between what everyone is allowed to see and what is only accessible to certain parties: the regulation provides for differentiated access rights, whereby some data are public and others are available only to, for example, supervisory authorities or market participants further down the chain. Which data for tyres will be precisely public is not yet established — that follows from the delegated act for tyres themselves. What is established is the principle: part of the passport is available for everyone to check, another part is not.

This also does not involve a guarantee that the information is correct. The passport is a representation of the data supplied by the manufacturer or importer; the platform that compiles and hosts the passport does not verify the accuracy of underlying test results or claims. For questions about who must supply which data and where that responsibility ends, how do I approach the product passport for tyres step by step? a good follow-up.

No fixed date yet, but a clear direction

When customers can actually do this for tyres depends on the delegated act that establishes the precise requirements for tyres. That date is not yet fixed: the ESPR Work Plan 2025-2030 mentions a delegated act for tyres expected around 2027, with expected application around 2029. Once that act has been published, the exact date will be stated here. Until then, the framework within which it will operate is fixed: Articles 9, 10, 11, and 14 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) already describe how the passport and access to it are technically and legally set up, even though that framework is not yet filled in with the specific data for tyres. Anyone who wants to know now what can be done in the meantime while the rules are not yet final will find that in what can I do now while the rules are not yet final?

What this concretely means for a tyre seller

For an importer, wholesaler, or fleet manager who sells or purchases tyres, this above all means that the data carrier must be on the product itself and functional, not only on an invoice or in an email. The QR code must lead to a passport that, at the moment of scanning, actually displays the current data — not to a dead link or a page that will only be filled in later. Anyone choosing a platform that compiles the passport and hosts it for ten years would do well to check how that platform handles the separation between public and non-public data, and how stable the link behind the QR code remains over that period. That is also one of the points to consider in what should I pay attention to when choosing a platform for the product passport

Furthermore, it is practical to think about what a customer sees when scanning before purchase, versus what a supervisory authority requests later during an inspection — these are not automatically the same data, and it is good to be clear beforehand about which layer of information is intended for whom. More about that inspection side is in what does a supervisory authority request during an inspection of tyres?

The legal basis: Articles 9, 10, 11 and 14 of the ESPR

That the passport must be accessible before purchase follows from Article 9 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781), which introduces the digital product passport as such and regulates the link to the product. Article 10 describes the requirements that the content of the passport must meet, and Article 11 regulates the technical design and operation, including the requirement that the data carrier is physically accessible on or with the product. Article 14 specifically concerns the web portal through which data from the digital product passport can be consulted, and the differentiated access rights for different types of users. Together, these articles form the basis for the answer: the possibility of access exists, the precise content for tyres not yet.

What to do

Anyone now selling or importing tyres can best check which data are already available (for example via existing labelling) and get those in order in advance, so that the switch to the digital passport later is a matter of connecting rather than starting from scratch. For those with multiple locations who wonder if that data can be shared, can multiple locations of my company manage the same product passport a logical next step.