Watches, musical instruments, glasses… Professionals are preparing to display the “digital product passport”

In appearance it is a QR code, but it will soon be called the “digital product passport”. Watches, cell phones, mattresses… All kinds of everyday objects will have to present it. By scanning it, we will have all the information on this product, its reparability or even its previous life. In some cases, it will be mandatory from next year, so professionals are preparing.

At the reuse and repair fair, Porte de Versailles, in Paris, certain brands are already voluntarily displaying this product identity card. This is the case, for example, for Breitling watches, Buffet Crampon musical instruments and JMM luxury glasses.

Certain brands are notably supported by Ariani, the company of Pierre-Nicolas Hurstel, an expert in IT solutions. The boss gives a demonstration by scanning the QR code of a Beko brand washing machine: “I see the photo of my washing machine appear, its serial number, all the characteristics of this product, its reparability index, durability index. We also see that the product was manufactured in 2025 in Romania and was sold and delivered by Darty in February 2026”.

If this washing machine undergoes a repair, this will also be registered and visible to a second-hand buyer. No product will escape its digital passport. From 2027, this will be for scooter and car batteries. In 2028, furniture, refrigerators and construction materials will also be used there. In 2029, mattresses, electric motors and light bulbs will also have to have this digital passport. Next will come phones and tablets, then toys, cosmetics and even shoes. In short, this will concern all products sold on European soil, including Chinese.

With this passport, professionals hope to gain, but for that to happen they will have to innovate. Diana de Bernardi is a circularity and sustainability expert at GS1, the company that invented the barcode: “Manufacturers will rethink their business model to produce a raw material that is less expensive. It’s about thinking about manufacturing as cheaply but as robustly as possible and thinking about having after-sales service and standardization of parts because parts that are too specific will be too expensive. The objective is for this to be done at a lower cost.”