The most common mistake in conversations with your software provider about the mattress passport
The most common mistake is that a company assumes the software provider who technically delivers the digital product passport is also responsible for the accuracy of its content. This is not the case. The regulation targets the party that is considered the offeror of the mattress — usually the manufacturer or importer — and that party remains responsible for the data in the passport, even if an external party builds and hosts the system.
This confusion usually starts in the first conversation: the question is asked whether the provider "can make a passport", and once the answer is yes, the conversation moves on to price and delivery time. Questions about who enters the data, who keeps it up to date, what happens if there is an error in the text, and who is liable if the passport is missing or incorrect, are then often not discussed. That is exactly where things regularly go wrong.
What a software provider can and cannot arrange for you
A software provider typically supplies the system: the storage, the QR data carrier, the link to your inventory or ERP system, and the display of the passport for whoever scans the code. This is technical work, and many providers do this well. What a provider typically does not do is assess whether the data you provide is complete and correct according to the regulation. That remains your responsibility, or that of the party in your chain that is designated as the offeror. The distinction between these roles can be read in the knowledge base with explanations per topic.
Which questions are often missing in practice
Companies typically ask about price, delivery time, and whether the system integrates with existing software. Questions that often fall short in practice relate to data ownership: who owns the data if you switch providers, and in what format you get them back. The hosting period is also rarely discussed clearly, even though the passport must remain accessible for ten years — even if the provider stops, is taken over, or the contract expires. And few companies explicitly ask who makes the information in the passport traceable to its source, even though this is precisely an issue that supervisory authorities may look at.
Why this mistake is difficult to correct
The problem with this mistake is that it only becomes apparent when it is too late: during an inspection, when a customer asks, or when you want to switch providers and realize that the data cannot simply be moved. A contract that does not address these points is difficult to correct afterwards without renegotiating, and that takes more time than the conversation you could have had beforehand. How the provenance and traceability of data work in practice is explained on the page where you can read where the information comes from.
How to avoid this
Preventing this mistake is largely a matter of the sequence of the conversation: first discuss the role allocation and responsibilities, then the technology and the price. Establish for yourself who in your company supplies and verifies the data, and only then test which provider technically fits best with that. A number of questions that come up in that conversation can be prepared in advance by mapping your situation in a few questions. You can also find answers from other entrepreneurs who have already had this conversation in the frequently asked questions.
Do you want to know where your company currently stands and which questions are relevant to your situation before you start talking to a provider? The free quick-scan gives you a first indication of this in a few minutes, without requiring an account.