The Question Every Factory Asks

Who Is Responsible for the DPP — Factory, Brand or Importer?

Legal responsibility for the Digital Product Passport sits with the economic operator placing the product on the EU market — for imported garments normally the EU importer or brand (or an EU authorised representative), not the overseas factory. ESPR (EU) 2024/1781 assigns duties role by role in Articles 27–35, and Article 34 makes an importer or distributor the “manufacturer” once it sells under its own brand or modifies the product. The factory’s real obligation arrives by contract: supplying passport-ready data.

Written by Nazrul Islam, Founder, DPPLive · Last updated: 16 July 2026

Art. 27
Manufacturer
Must ensure products are designed, manufactured and accompanied by the information the delegated acts require — including the DPP — before placing them on the market. For garments made outside the EU, the “manufacturer” role can legally shift downstream (see Article 34).
Art. 28
Authorised representative
An EU-established person mandated in writing by a non-EU manufacturer to carry defined compliance tasks. The route for a factory that wants to own its EU compliance relationship instead of leaving it entirely to buyers.
Art. 29
Importer
May only place compliant products on the EU market and must verify the manufacturer has done its part — conformity assessment, required information, the passport. For most Asian-made garments, this is where EU-side accountability lands.
Art. 30–31
Distributor & dealer
Must act with due care: check the required information and data carrier are present and not make non-compliant products available. Dealers face point-of-sale duties such as displaying required labels and passport access.
Art. 33
Fulfilment service provider
Warehousing, packaging and dispatch providers carry supporting obligations for the products they handle — they cannot be a compliance blind spot in e-commerce chains.
Art. 35
Online marketplaces
Marketplaces must cooperate with market surveillance authorities and carry the platform duties of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (DSA) for ESPR purposes — non-compliant listings can be ordered down.
Article 34 — the private-label rule that surprises everyone

“Importers or distributors shall be considered manufacturers for the purposes of this Regulation where they: (a) place a product … on the market under their name or trademark; or (b) modify such a product already placed on the market…”

Most private-label garment trade falls exactly here: the EU brand that puts its own label on your production becomes the legal “manufacturer” — with every DPP duty that carries.

The Non-EU Factory’s Position

Not Legally Liable — Still Holding the Data

The regulation’s duties stop at the EU border; the data does not. Composition, origin, substances, footprint — everything a passport must contain originates at the factory. Three practical consequences follow.

01
Contracts carry the duty to you
In-scope EU buyers discharge their legal responsibility by requiring DPP-ready data from suppliers — in tech packs, vendor manuals and purchase terms. The obligation you face is commercial, and it decides order allocation.
02
Whoever creates the passport needs IDs
Under Article 12(2), the economic operator that creates or updates a DPP must obtain unique operator identifiers — after confirming none exists — for the actors involved. Clean identifier management (GTIN, operator and facility IDs) is part of being a credible data source. See our QR & identifier guide.
03
Customs will ask for the registration ID
Article 15: once the registry is operational, anyone declaring a covered product for release for free circulation must provide its unique registration identifier to customs. A missing passport becomes a border problem — which is why buyers will not gamble on suppliers without data discipline.
Responsibility FAQ

Quick Answers

Is a non-EU garment factory legally responsible for the DPP?
+
Not normally. ESPR obligations attach to the economic operator placing the product on the EU market — usually the EU importer or brand, or the manufacturer's EU authorised representative. The overseas factory is rarely that operator, but it is the only party holding the source data, so buyers pass the data obligation down by contract.
Who registers the product in the EU DPP registry?
+
The economic operator responsible for compliance lodges the unique identifiers; under Article 15 the unique registration identifier must be provided to customs when a product is declared for release for free circulation, from the moment the registry is operational. In practice a DPP service provider handles creation, hosting and registry submission on the responsible operator's behalf.
Our buyer sells our garments under its own brand. Whose DPP duty is it?
+
The buyer's. Under ESPR Article 34, an importer or distributor that places a product on the market under its own name or trademark — or modifies it — is considered the manufacturer for the purposes of the regulation, and takes on the manufacturer's obligations, including the passport.
Can a factory take on DPP responsibility itself?
+
Yes, partially — a non-EU manufacturer can appoint an EU authorised representative under Article 28 and keep closer control of compliance rather than leaving it entirely to each buyer. Many exporters instead position themselves as the data source: delivering verified, passport-ready data their EU customers can rely on.
Keep Reading

Go Deeper

How to Create a Garment DPP →
The full six-step process — data, identifiers, passport, QR, registry, updates.
Registry Submission Guide →
How a passport's identifiers reach the EU central registry, step by step.
ESPR Timeline →
When each obligation actually applies — working plan, delegated acts, enforcement.
DPP FAQ →
24 answers on scope, cost, data and compliance for garment exporters.
Sources & official references
DPPLive’s Take

Be the Supplier Whose Data Buyers Trust

You may never be the legally responsible operator — and it will not matter. Orders will flow to factories that deliver verified, passport-ready data without being chased. DPPLive puts that capability on the factory side: structured data intake, identifiers, hosted passports and registry-ready records your EU customers can rely on.

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