From Conceptual Silos to a Circular Economy: The BFO-Based Framework for the Digital Product Passport

The European Union’s Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a €1.8 trillion initiative to enable the circular economy, but its success depends on solving a fundamental paradox. The very ontologies designed to ensure interoperability are at risk of creating new ”conceptual silos” because they lack a logically sound foundation, consequently risking the initiative. This paper argues that the solution lies in grounding DPP ontologies in a robust upper ontology like Basic Formal Ontology (BFO). Through a systematic analysis of the CIRPASS-2 Core Ontology, we reveal critical ambiguities—notably the conflation of physical processes with digital instructions— that make the current model inherently brittle. We then present a refined BFO-aligned framework that resolves these inconsistencies, providing the logically sound and interoperable foundation to transform the DPP from an ambitious, innovative vision into a functional, data-driven reality.