Two July 2026 measures are already enacted
As of 10 September 2026, the official EU sources cited here show two July 2026 Digital Product Passport measures already enacted within the ESPR architecture. Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736 on harmonised standards for digital product passports was adopted on 14 July 2026. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778 on DPP registry implementation arrangements was adopted on 16 July 2026. These are not draft plans, consultation papers, or merely announced intentions. They are adopted implementing measures that sit beneath the broader Digital Product Passport framework and give the Commission a concrete horizontal setup for standards and registry operation at EU level.
The Commission’s Digital Product Passport page places both acts in the same July 2026 sequence. It states that July 2026 established the DPP Registry framework through an implementing act and an implementing decision on six DPP standards. That wording matters because it separates the new horizontal layer from later product rules. The official sources therefore support a narrower conclusion. By mid July 2026, the Commission had moved beyond the framework regulation alone and had adopted horizontal measures on six DPP standards and on Registry arrangements. In the Commission’s own timeline, product group rules still remain tied to later legal instruments.
The ESPR legal basis does not finish product rules yet
The legal basis identified by the Commission for the Digital Product Passport is Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. The same Commission page also states that product specific Digital Product Passport obligations are not all fixed yet. According to that official page, they will be set either through ESPR delegated acts or through separate standalone EU legislation. This is the key boundary for July 2026. The enacted measures are real law, but they do not by themselves finish the rulebook for every affected product category, and they do not yet define every passport field that operators will ultimately have to provide.
The Commission also describes the public rollout order only at a high level. It says the process starts with certain batteries, with additional product groups expected to follow, including textiles, iron and steel, and construction products. That sequence should be read together with the legal distinction above. The July 2026 standards and registry acts establish common infrastructure across the DPP system. On the cited Commission evidence, they do not amount to a complete category by category statement of mandatory content, access rights, or application dates for those later product groups. Those points remain tied to future delegated acts or other standalone legislation.
The horizontal technical layer is only partly complete
Within that horizontal layer, the Commission’s timeline assigns a specific role to the standards decision. The Commission says July 2026 brought an implementing decision on six Digital Product Passport standards, and it indicates September 2026 for a further implementing decision covering the remaining two standards. The official sources therefore show an enacted standards milestone, but as of 10 September 2026 they do not yet show a fully completed set of eight standards. That is an important sequencing point. One decision on six standards is already adopted, while a further decision on the remaining two standards is still presented by the Commission as scheduled for September 2026.
The Commission’s registry news item and the entry for Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778 describe the other horizontal piece in more operational terms. The Commission says product data is stored in a decentralised manner, while the EU Registry provides infrastructure for unique product identifiers and associated metadata. It also states that the implementing regulation sets rules for access management and user verification, requirements for registration and storage of necessary data, and the Registry’s technical architecture. Read together, those official descriptions distinguish the Registry infrastructure from the decentralised storage of product data and identify the subjects already covered at horizontal level.
The live Registry already has defined operating channels
The Commission’s 20 July 2026 announcement adds several concrete operating facts. Economic operators must register each Digital Product Passport in the Registry. The same official page says registration works through a secure user interface or through an API. It also states that operators can request proof of registration as a secure electronic document. These points translate the registry requirement into named access channels and a formal output document. The source therefore does not present registration as limited to one manual route, nor as restricted to a later technical phase that has not yet opened.
The Commission also says that a testing environment, technical documentation, implementation guidelines, webinars, and a helpdesk are available through the DPP website. The cited announcement therefore describes not only the Registry going live but also accompanying implementation resources for economic operators. It does not turn those resources into product specific deadlines. It does, however, show that the registry layer is publicly exposed with documentation and support, which distinguishes it from a purely conceptual passport framework.
The timetable names later acts and one first sector date
For timing, the Commission’s Digital Product Passport page states a further fixed rule. After ESPR delegated acts are adopted, economic operators will have a transition period of at least 18 months. The same indicative timeline points to the fourth quarter of 2026 for the iron and steel ESPR delegated act and for an implementing act on battery access rights. Those references are useful because they show how the enacted July 2026 measures fit into the next legal steps. The horizontal standards and registry arrangements are already in place, while category bound obligations and some access rule details are still linked by the Commission to later instruments and later dates.
The first implementation deadline expressly named by the Commission in the cited sources is 18 February 2027 for certain types of large batteries. The Commission’s DPP page and its registry announcement both connect that date with the battery sequence rather than with all future passported products at once. That is the current official timetable boundary supported by the sources listed here. It provides one concrete sectoral date, alongside an at least 18 month transition rule after future ESPR delegated acts, without turning the July 2026 horizontal measures into immediate product specific obligations across textiles, iron and steel, or construction products.