Exploring the Oppositional Forces In Digital Product Passport Implementation

Digital Product Passports (DPP) are novel types of digital representations for physical goods that digitally collect product-related data throughout the supply chain. They can be administered either by the Economic Operator (EO) (the entity putting the product in the market) or by a DPP Service Provider (DPPSP). The existence of DPPSPs poses a set of issues for DPP implementation. While they can take over some responsibilities, they are an additional actor that potentially centralizes the product-related data and the associated power. In this paper, we explore the issues prevailing in DPPSPs from a practice perspective using a dialectical inquiry lens. We analyzed 50 responses to a call by the European Commission for feedback on the rules for DPPSPs by companies, business associations, and NGOs. Our paper contributes a systematic understanding of the prevailing issues in implementing DPPSPs.