How do I document the supply of passport data in my purchasing contract?

Specify who supplies which passport data, and when

You establish the supply of passport data by describing in your purchase contract which party supplies which data, in what form, and from which moment that obligation takes effect. This aligns with the structure of the ESPR: a market operator that is part of the supply chain must provide correct and complete information to the party further down the chain that compiles the digital product passport (Article 38 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781). In practice, for a mattress manufacturer or importer, this means that your own suppliers — of foam, textiles, springs, adhesives and coatings — must supply the basic data on materials and origin. A purchase contract is where this supply becomes practical and enforceable: not as a loose promise, but as a contractual obligation with a form, a moment and a responsible party.

For suppliers and importers, not for the structure of the passport itself

These agreements concern the relationship between a purchasing party and the supplier, manufacturer or importer who provides the source data. They do not concern how the passport looks in terms of content, which data format is mandatory, or which fields exactly are mandatory — that is determined per product group in a delegated act and is the responsibility of the platform that compiles and hosts the passport. This distinction is relevant: a purchase contract regulates the supply of data between commercial parties, while the statutory content of the passport is a separate layer. It is also important that the obligation under Article 38 applies to actors in the supply chain in general, while Article 29 specifically applies to importers: they must, among other things, verify that the manufacturer has drawn up the passport and keep and make available documentation. For a party that imports itself, it is therefore important to make explicit in the purchase contract with the foreign manufacturer who bears which part of that obligation.

No fixed date, but a fixed framework

When these obligations will concretely apply to mattresses is not yet established. The ESPR itself is in force, but the obligation to actually maintain a digital product passport for a specific product group such as mattresses arises only with a delegated act for that product group. According to the ESPR work plan for the period 2025-2030, that delegated act for mattresses is expected in 2028, but this is a schedule and not a confirmed date. Once the act is published, the exact date will be stated here. Until then, it is established that the obligation for actors in the supply chain to provide correct information (Article 38) and the obligations for importers (Article 29) are already included in the regulation — so it is not a new system to be invented, but a framework for which the entry date for mattresses still needs to be established.

How to approach this contractually

The order in which this is typically addressed starts with mapping your own supply chain: which supplier delivers which material or component, and which of them has the data that will be needed for the passport (material composition, origin, substances of concern if any). Next, the purchase contract describes which data will be delivered, in what format or via which system, and at what point in time — for example with each delivery, upon change of a recipe, or upon first request. After that, it is customary to establish who is responsible for the accuracy of the supplied data and who ensures the update when a composition changes, because a passport that is not updated loses its value. A fourth point is the allocation of liability in case of incorrect or missing data: what happens if a supplier does not deliver data, delivers it late or incorrectly, and who bears the consequences towards the end user or the competent authority. Finally, for importers it is relevant to include in the contract with the manufacturer an agreement on storage and availability, since the importer itself is required to keep documentation and to make it available upon request (Article 29) — that obligation is easier to comply with if the underlying data has already been contractually required from the manufacturer.

Based on: Article 38 and Article 29 of the ESPR

The obligation to provide correct and complete information to the next party in the chain follows from Article 38 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, which sets requirements for actors in the supply chain. The additional obligations for importers — including checking and keeping documentation — follow from Article 29 of the same regulation. Together, both articles form the legal basis why these agreements belong in a purchase contract: the regulation places the obligation on the market actors themselves, and the contract is the instrument by which that obligation is made practical between commercial parties.

If you already work with suppliers, you can map your own supply chain now and include a section on data delivery in the next contract review along the points mentioned above — so you do not have to catch up under time pressure once the delegated act for mattresses has been published.