How much time should you allow before a software supplier actually delivers the digital product passport for your mattresses? There is no statutory deadline laid down, so the answer depends on the supplier, the size of your range and how complete your data already is. In practice, the process runs in three phases: selection and scope, the submission of mattress data, and the technical integration with the QR code. Each phase has its own lead time, and each phase has its own place where delays occur.
The regulation itself does not prescribe a delivery deadline for software suppliers. What is certain: the delegated act for mattresses is expected around 2028 according to the ESPR work plan 2025-2030, and the obligation itself around 2030. That date is not yet fixed. This means you can now start with a supplier without a statutory clock ticking, but it also means that no one can guarantee you a firm delivery date tied to the law.
Phase 1: selection and the scope discussion
The first phase concerns the question of which part of the passport the supplier arranges for you and which part remains your responsibility. Some parties offer only the technical layer: hosting, QR code, and a template for entering data. Other parties also help with assembling the content itself. This phase takes as long as the discussion needs to clarify who picks up which piece of the chain. Companies that already know in advance what role they have in the chain — manufacturer, importer or distributor — usually go through this discussion faster, because responsibilities are then already clear. read up on the concepts and roles in the chain helps prepare for that discussion.
Phase 2: submitting the mattress data
The second phase is usually the longest, and that has little to do with the supplier. It is about collecting the data that will later appear in the passport: material composition, origin, maintenance instructions, and the documents that go with it. For companies with one mattress model this is a matter of days. For companies with dozens of variants, private label lines or imports from multiple factories, this quickly stretches to weeks, simply because the data has to come from different parties and is not always in the same format.
Phase 3: technical integration and the QR code
The final phase is the integration of your data with a working QR data carrier and actual publication. This is usually the quickest step, because it is largely automated once the data is complete and checked. The lead time of this phase therefore says little about the supplier and much about how thoroughly phase two has been completed.
Where the lead time gets stuck in practice
Most delays do not occur with the supplier, but with the submission. Three recurring causes: data that has to be requested from the manufacturer abroad and is not treated as a priority there, internal discussion about who within the company is responsible for maintaining the data, and unclear about which contact person at the supplier answers questions. The latter is precisely why it makes sense to ask a software supplier a fixed set of questions in advance, so that responsibilities and submission formats are laid down at the start rather than being worked out as you go along.
Another frequently heard reason for delay is that companies only discover during the process that their mattresses may not fall within the scope of the regulation, or conversely do fall within it, while they had not assumed this. This changes the scope of phase one, and with it the entire planning. Whoever checks this in advance prevents the process from being halted halfway through. With see where you stand in five questions you get an initial indication of this without any obligations.
What this means for your planning
Because there is no statutory delivery period, the most reliable approach is to take control of the phase that is within your own hands: data submission. A company that has already structured its mattress data can complete the process in weeks. A company that has to start by requesting material information from multiple suppliers must allow for months. Both situations are normal, and neither says anything about how compliant the end result is: that depends on the content, not on the speed.
Would you like to know what such a process looks like in practice and where the data comes from? On view the working method and data sources it is explained step by step. And for concrete cost questions that often come up together with the processing time, see the overview of costs and subscriptions is a logical next step.
Do you have no picture yet of where your company stands in this process? Do the free quick-scan or browse through the topics in the knowledge base to see which step is the first priority for your situation.