Who is responsible for the digital product passport for tyres?

What you must do concretely

What is expected of you

The ESPR places the obligation for the digital product passport primarily with the manufacturer. Article 27 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) sets out a series of obligations that fall upon "the manufacturer", and Article 9 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) describes what that passport must contain and how it must be accessible. Who exactly "the manufacturer" is is not always the party that has actually produced the tyre — that is a separate question that in itself already creates confusion. What matters in practice for a tyre importer, wholesale distributor or fleet manager breaks down into a few recognisable obligations.

The manufacturer compiles the technical data

The party classified as the manufacturer is responsible for compiling the data that goes into the passport: material composition, performance, origin, and the other elements listed in Article 9 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781). For a company of 10 to 100 employees that either produces tyres itself or has them produced under its own brand, this means there must be an internal process to collect and maintain this data — not only when launching a tyre type, but also when changes are made.

The manufacturer provides the data carrier

Article 9 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) requires that the passport be accessible via a data carrier — in practice a QR code — on or with the product. For a wholesale distributor that repackages or repacks tyres, this is a practical point to note: the data carrier must be present and readable, even after processing in their own logistics.

The manufacturer keeps the passport available

A passport that cannot be retrieved after one year does not meet the purpose of the regulation. Article 27 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) therefore imposes a duty of maintenance on the manufacturer. For a company of limited size, this is often the reason to outsource this task to a platform that has hosting and availability as a core function, rather than setting this up themselves.

Who the manufacturer is is not always who you expect

Anyone who sells under their own brand, or imports tyres from a manufacturer outside the EU, may themselves be classified as the manufacturer — with all the obligations of Article 27 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) that come with it. This is one of the places where responsibility shifts without becoming immediately clear. Anyone seeking certainty on this would do well to first determine whether your role as an importer or as a manufacturer applies, before filling in the rest of the obligations.

Where things go wrong in practice

A number of situations come up repeatedly in practice.

An importer assumes that the foreign manufacturer will arrange the passport, because that party has the data about the product. In practice, it turns out that the manufacturer outside the EU does not fall within the scope of the ESPR and therefore has no reason to have a passport drawn up themselves — meaning that responsibility effectively falls on the EU party. What exactly applies here depends on the question who arranges the passport if the manufacturer is outside the European Union.

A wholesale distributor sells tyres under its own house brand, with an external party as the actual producer. The assumption is that the producer remains responsible, whereas the application of its own brand can itself be a reason to be classified as a manufacturer. This directly touches on the question what obligations apply when selling under your own brand.

A distributor assumes that only manufacturers have anything to do with the passport, and that their own role is limited to reselling. Distributors and traders, however, have their own position in the chain, with their own points of attention — see what obligations apply for a distributor or trader of tyres.

A company sells via an online marketplace and assumes the platform is responsible for the passport. However, the marketplace is typically not a manufacturer within the meaning of the ESPR, which means responsibility may remain with the selling party — this works differently than is often assumed and can be read in more detail at what the product passport means when selling via an online marketplace.

A merger or acquisition changes the legal entity that served as the manufacturer, without anyone stopping to consider what that means for existing passports. This too is a moment when responsibility can silently shift.

What you can record

For a company that wants to substantiate which role each party within its own organisation or chain fulfils, it is practical to document a number of things in writing:

• An overview of its own role per product line: manufacturer, importer, distributor or a combination thereof, including the substantiation of that choice.
• Agreements with the actual producer (in the case of own-brand sales or purchases outside the EU) on who supplies and maintains the data for the passport.
• An internal responsible person or process for tracking changes in product data, so that the passport does not become outdated.
• Documentation on the data carrier: where and how the QR code is affixed, and who verifies this during repackaging or repacking.
• Contractual agreements on liability for errors in the data, especially when multiple parties in the chain are involved in compiling the passport — this relates to the question who is liable if there is an error in the product passport data.

These documentations are not an end in themselves, but give a company of 10 to 100 employees a foothold in determining which obligation each party in its own chain bears — and prevent that question from only being asked at the moment something has already gone wrong.