Does the digital product passport also apply to small businesses?

What you must do concretely

What is expected of you

The ESPR does not distinguish by company size for the obligation itself. A small company that imports tyres or places them on the market under its own name is in principle subject to the same rules as a large manufacturer. What is specifically regulated: Article 22 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) names small and medium-sized enterprises as a group for which Member States and the Commission can establish support measures. This is different from an exemption. At present, the subject is not concrete for the tyre sector, because the delegated act that sets the requirements per product group does not yet exist — see what is a delegated act and why does it determine what I must do?. What is stated below is therefore a description of the approach set out in the framework regulation, not an elaborated regulation for tyres.

Support, not exemption

Article 22 refers to measures such as financial support, technical assistance and information provision aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises. For a company of 10 to 100 employees, this means in practice that tools or subsidy schemes may become available to help meet the obligations, but the obligations themselves do not lapse. In other words: the standard remains in principle the same, only the path to it for smaller companies may be organised differently than for a multinational with its own compliance department.

Determining what role you play

For the question of whether and what a company is expected to do, the role in the supply chain is more important than company size. An importer who places tyres on the European market under its own brand has a different position from a wholesaler who only resells what another party has already assembled. This distinction is separate from Article 22 and recurs throughout the framework regulation as a whole; it can be traced via does the digital product passport apply to my tyres?. For a small company it is practically relevant to have this role clearly defined, because support measures for small enterprises will presumably be directed at specific roles in the supply chain, not at "small enterprises" as an undifferentiated group.

Following what is specifically laid down for your product group

Because Article 22 contains no independent obligation but a framework for support, the content for the tyre sector can only be assessed once the delegated act for tyres is published. That act will also determine whether, and in what way, account is taken in implementation of smaller market participants — for example in transition periods or in the way data must be provided. As long as that text does not exist, any statement about a lighter regime for small companies in the tyre sector is premature.

Where things go wrong in practice

A number of assumptions lead in practice to wrong expectations among smaller companies:

"We are too small, so this does not apply to us." Company size is not an independent ground for exemption in the ESPR. A small tyre import company that places tyres on the market has in principle the same position as a large importer, unless the later delegated act determines otherwise.

Confusing support measures with exemption. Article 22 is about assistance in compliance, not about removing the obligation. A company that counts on an exemption because it is small is basing that on a misreading of the text.

Waiting until the deadline draws near. Because the delegated act for tyres has not yet been published, there is a tendency to let the subject drop entirely. This is understandable, but also means that a small company with limited capacity has less time left to arrange something once the requirements become concrete. See for the current status when does the product passport become mandatory for tyres?.

Making no distinction between product groups. Some small businesses sell revised or secondhand batches alongside new tyres, and then assume that the same rules apply everywhere in the same way. For retreaded tyres and tread renewal, that is more nuanced, just as with private sale of second-hand tyres — that is worth considering before you draw conclusions about your entire assortment.

Underestimating your own role in the chain. A small business that thinks "we are just an intermediary" while in reality relabelling tyres under its own name can actually qualify as an importer or manufacturer. That fundamentally changes the expectations, regardless of headcount.

What you can record

• An overview of the company's own role per product line: manufacturer, importer, distributor or intermediary, per brand and per country of origin.
• A list of the product groups that the company places on the market, with a note which of these fall under the ESPR — to be checked against which tyre industry products fall under the ESPR?.
• A log of published and announced delegated acts relevant to tyres, so that changes do not go unnoticed.
• Contact details and terms of any national or European support schemes for small and medium-sized enterprises, once these become concrete for this sector.
• A brief note on what data is already available in the company about the composition and origin of products, as a starting point for when a product passport must be compiled — more on this in which data are included in the tyre product passport?.

For a small business, it is especially important to have clarity on your own position and to keep abreast of regulatory developments, without assuming in advance that company size itself rules anything out.