Data interoperability: why data silos are dead

The Digital Product Passport (DPP), mandated by EU Regulation 2024/1781—the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)—is more than a compliance checkbox. It signals a structural pivot from linear industrial models to a circular economy built on information transparency. With phased enforcement beginning in 2026 for batteries and iron and steel, and expanding to textiles, electronics, furniture, and beyond through 2030, the timeline is no longer theoretical.

This raises a question that transcends IT departments: is your data architecture ready to participate in the European market of the next decade? If your product data lives in proprietary, isolated systems—what the industry calls “data silos”—the answer, bluntly, is no. An isolated datum is, by regulatory definition, a non-compliant datum.

The EU has been deliberate in its approach. Through the CIRPASS consortium—a group of over 30 partners that defined the DPP’s technical blueprint—and its successor CIRPASS-2, which is currently running real-world pilots across textiles, electronics, tyres, and construction products, the Commission has made its architectural vision clear: no centralised European database. Instead, a decentralised ecosystem where data flows seamlessly between manufacturers, regulators, recyclers, and consumers.

This is a crucial point. The DPP is not a digital brochure to be uploaded once and forgotten. It is a living, machine-readable dataset that must travel with the product across its entire lifecycle—from raw material extraction to end-of-life recycling. For this to work at the scale of the EU Single Market, every passport must speak a universal language. Interoperability is not a nice-to-have; it is the prerequisite for market access.

Two converging standards form the technical backbone of an interoperable DPP: GS1 Digital Link and JSON-LD. Understanding what they do—at a strategic rather than technical level—is essential for any executive responsible for market positioning in the EU.

GS1 Digital Link: The Bridge Between Physical and Digital

GS1 Digital Link transforms traditional product identifiers—the barcodes and codes already used by over two million companies worldwide—into web-enabled gateways. A single QR code, NFC tag, or RFID chip on your product no longer just triggers a price lookup; it resolves to a rich, context-aware set of data endpoints. When a consumer scans it, they see care instructions and sustainability credentials. When a customs officer scans it, they access compliance declarations. When a recycler scans it, they retrieve material composition and disassembly guidance.

GS1 is working directly with the European Commission and the CIRPASS-2 initiative on the DPP data architecture, and EU guidance documents already recommend GS1 Digital Link as the preferred approach for DPP data carriers. The official sunrise period for 2D Digital Link codes is 2027—the same year the first wave of mandatory DPPs takes effect.

JSON-LD: The Semantic Layer That Creates Meaning

Data without shared meaning is noise. JSON-LD (JSON for Linked Data) provides the semantic layer that allows disparate systems to not merely exchange values, but to understand what those values represent. When a recycling facility’s system reads the number “12.4” from a battery passport, JSON-LD ensures the system knows that figure refers to a carbon footprint, measured in kgCO₂e, calculated according to a specific EU-approved methodology. Without this shared context, interoperability collapses into a Tower of Babel.

The EU has tasked three major standards bodies—CEN, CENELEC, and ETSI—with building the unified vocabularies and ontologies that underpin this semantic layer. JSON-LD, combined with these shared dictionaries, is the format that turns the DPP from a static document into a dynamic, machine-interpretable asset. It is already the dominant data format on the web and the format specified for Verifiable Credentials, making it inherently future-proof.

For many organisations, the real obstacle is not understanding the destination but managing the journey. Product data today is scattered across ERP systems, PLM tools, supply chain management platforms, and spreadsheets maintained by individual teams. Dismantling these silos requires a dual-track approach to data orchestration. The first track is ingestion: the capacity to abstract and normalise heterogeneous data streams from legacy systems into structured, standards-compliant digital assets. Platforms like AnchorPass function as an interoperability layer, converting fragmented raw data into DPP-ready formats aligned with CIRPASS specifications—without requiring companies to rebuild their IT infrastructure from scratch.

The second track is controlled distribution. Interoperability does not mean transparency without limits. A critical concern for any executive is the protection of trade secrets and competitive intelligence. The DPP architecture addresses this through role-based access control: consumers see sustainability scores and repair instructions, recyclers see material composition, and regulators see full compliance documentation. The principle is selective visibility, not open exposure.

Underpinning this framework is the concept of data sovereignty, championed by the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA) and embedded in European data policy. Organisations retain full authority over who accesses what data and for which purpose. Blockchain technology serves as the trust anchor within this architecture: it provides an immutable audit trail that guarantees data integrity and provenance for regulators, while protecting the producer’s intellectual property through cryptographic access controls.

Industry analysts estimate that building the necessary data infrastructure for DPP compliance requires twelve to eighteen months. The EU digital registry is expected to go live by July 2026. The first mandatory passports—for EV and industrial batteries—arrive in February 2027, with textiles and iron and steel following months later. The arithmetic is unforgiving: companies that have not begun preparing are already behind.

But compliance is the floor, not the ceiling. The companies that will gain competitive advantage are those that treat the DPP not as a regulatory burden, but as a strategic asset. A well-structured, interoperable DPP strengthens brand trust by providing verifiable proof of sustainability claims—a powerful weapon against the reputational risk of greenwashing allegations. It streamlines supply chain coordination. It opens doors to ESG-conscious investors and procurement teams that increasingly demand traceable, auditable product data.

Meanwhile, companies operating within closed data silos will find themselves technically incapable of communicating with European digital infrastructures. Without a valid DPP, products can be blocked at customs. Importers will simply refuse to carry non-compliant goods. The “Brussels Effect”—the EU’s well-documented ability to set de facto global standards—means these requirements will ripple well beyond European borders.

Interoperability is the lingua franca of the circular economy. Investing in platforms like AnchorPass that natively support GS1 Digital Link, JSON-LD, and blockchain-certified data integrity is not a technology decision—it is a de-risking strategy for market access, brand credibility, and operational resilience.

The era of the isolated data silo is over. The question for every C-suite executive is not whether to adopt interoperable systems, but how quickly they can do so before the regulatory window closes.

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