Digital Product Passport (DPP) support in Norce Commerce

Overview

The EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) introduces the Digital Product Passport (DPP) — a mandatory digital record linked to every physical product via a QR code, NFC tag, or RFID. The DPP must contain verified information about materials, sustainability, manufacturing origin, repairability, and end-of-life handling, accessible to consumers, regulators, and supply chain actors throughout the product's lifetime.

Norce Commerce has no native, out-of-the-box DPP functionality. There is no "DPP tab" in the admin interface and no predefined set of sustainability fields. Instead, Norce's open and flexible product data model — built around parametrics, file types, flags, and built-in product fields — provides all the building blocks required to implement DPP as part of your product information architecture.

This article explains how DPP data maps to Norce's data model, which built-in fields are relevant, what needs to be configured, and how Norce fits into the broader DPP solution landscape.

Regulatory timeline and scope

The ESPR regulation entered into force in July 2024. DPP requirements are being introduced in waves by product category:

The timeline below reflects currently published milestones as of March 2026. For non-battery categories, dates remain indicative until delegated acts are formally adopted.

If you sell physical goods into the EU market, you should assess which categories in your catalog fall within scope and plan your data model accordingly. Deadlines for non-battery categories are indicative until delegated acts are formally adopted.

Norce's role in the DPP solution

Norce acts as the product master and PIM hub for DPP data — not as the source of sustainability calculations or compliance evidence. This distinction is important:

• What Norce does: stores, structures, and exposes DPP-relevant product data (materials, footprints, certifications, instructions) through its Query API and Product Feed for use in storefronts, compliance systems, and DPP platforms.
• What Norce does not do: calculate carbon footprints, validate supply chain traceability, or generate the DPP itself. That data must originate externally — from suppliers, PLM systems, or a dedicated DPP platform — and be imported into Norce via the Connect API.
• Batch/lot limitation: Norce does not provide native tracking of different manufacturing batches/lots for the same SKU in the product model. If your DPP process requires batch-specific passport data, batch IDs and batch-level attributes must be handled in an external traceability/DPP system and linked to Norce product/SKU data.

A complete DPP architecture typically involves Norce as one component in a larger ecosystem alongside supplier data collection tools, a DPP issuance platform, and your storefront or compliance layer.

Built-in Norce fields relevant to DPP

Several standard Norce fields on the ProductSku and Category entities are directly relevant to DPP requirements and do not require custom configuration.

On ProductSku:

On Category:

On Product:

Ensuring these fields are populated across your active catalog is the first step toward DPP readiness, before any custom configuration is required.

What needs to be configured

The following configuration is recommended.

Minimum DPP data checklist before go-live

Before rolling out DPP to production, verify at least the following for all in-scope products:

• SKU identifier (EanCode) is populated for every sellable SKU.
• Product manufacturer (ManufacturerId) is populated and linked to a complete manufacturer record.
• Core DPP parametrics (for example origin, material composition, and required environmental metrics) are populated.
• Required compliance documents are attached using the configured non-image file types.
• A DPP status flag (dpp_complete, dpp_in_progress, dpp_not_started) is set to support operational follow-up.

Parametric group

Create a dedicated parametric group to keep all DPP-related parametrics organized and easy to identify in the admin interface. This group should be referenced when creating each DPP parametric.

Grouping all DPP parametrics under pg_dpp makes it straightforward to identify them in API responses, distinguish them from commercial product attributes in the admin UI, and include or exclude the full set in automated tooling and data pipelines.

Parametrics for sustainability data

The core sustainability and compliance data required by DPP must be implemented as parametrics. There are no predefined DPP parametrics in Norce — you create them according to your sector's requirements, and assign them to the pg_dpp group.

The following parametric types are recommended per data requirement. Using appropriate data types (rather than generic text) enables machine-readable, filterable, and structured output via the Query API:

Using a consistent prefix (dpp_) combined with the pg_dpp group makes it easy to query and filter DPP attributes across both the Management API and the admin interface.

Once parametrics are created, they must be connected to the relevant product categories. Parametrics not connected to a category will not appear in the admin UI for products in that category and cannot be required during data entry.

Compliance document file types

DPP often requires linking physical compliance documents to products — declarations of conformity, material safety data sheets (MSDS/SDS), repair manuals, and test reports. In Norce, document types are managed as product file types.

The following file types should be created and configured as non-image types:

Once created, these file types are available for attachment on any product in the admin interface.

Flags for DPP enrichment tracking

Product flags can be used to track the DPP enrichment status of your catalog — essential for managing a large-scale data enrichment process across hundreds or thousands of products.

Recommended flags:

Grouping these flags under a dedicated flag group (e.g. "DPP Compliance") keeps them visually separated from commercial or marketing flags in the admin UI.

Importing DPP data via Connect API

DPP field values are populated using the standard Norce Connect API product import (POST /Product/ImportProducts). Parametric values for sustainability fields follow the same import format as any other parametric.

For a product with DPP parametrics:

{
  "ManufacturerCode": "m_supplier",
  "Categories": [{ "Code": "c_electronics" }],
  "ProductParametrics": [
    { "ParametricCode": "dpp_country_of_origin", "ValueList": { "Code": "se" } },
    { "ParametricCode": "dpp_recycled_content_pct", "ValueDecimal": 35.0 },
    { "ParametricCode": "dpp_carbon_footprint_kg", "ValueDecimal": 12.4 },
    { "ParametricCode": "dpp_material_composition", "MultipleValueList": [
      { "Code": "aluminium" }, { "Code": "glass" }, { "Code": "plastic_abs" }
    ]},
    { "ParametricCode": "dpp_certification", "MultipleValueList": [
      { "Code": "ce" }, { "Code": "rohs" }
    ]}
  ],
  "Variants": [{
    "ManufacturerPartNo": "MFR-001-A",
    "Skus": [{ "PartNo": "SKU-001", "EanCode": "7330000000001" }]
  }]
}

Ensure ProductFieldsThatAreSet in the import header includes 10 (ProductParametrics) and SkuFieldsThatAreSet includes 5 (EanCode) when populating these fields for the first time. If your API contract version differs, verify the current enum mappings in the latest Connect API reference before deploying.

DPP data sourced from suppliers or external systems should be transformed into this format and imported as a regular delta feed, using FullFile: false to avoid unintended side effects on other product data.

This import pattern updates product/SKU-level data only. It is not a mechanism for maintaining separate DPP records per manufacturing batch/lot of the same SKU.

Exposing DPP data downstream

Once DPP data is stored in Norce, it is available through the standard output channels:

• Query API — exposes parametric values via $expand=Parametrics on product queries. DPP fields are queryable and filterable like any other parametric. Systems building DPP records or compliance reports can query specific parametric codes directly.
• Product Feed API — includes parametric values in the feed output. Useful for syncing DPP data to a dedicated DPP platform or compliance system in bulk.
• Storefront — DPP parametric values can be surfaced directly in product detail pages as sustainability information, in line with the ESPR requirement for consumer-facing transparency.

Important disclaimer

This article describes a technical approach for implementing DPP data within the Norce Commerce product data model. It is not legal advice. DPP requirements vary by product category and are defined through delegated acts that are still being finalized for many sectors. Legal responsibility for DPP compliance remains with the merchant, manufacturer, or other obligated economic operator. Consult a legal or compliance advisor for authoritative guidance on your specific obligations under ESPR.