The High Price of Delay: Why Waiting on Digital Product Passports Could Cost Millions

The EU’s new sustainability framework, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), is set to make Digital Product Passports (DPPs) mandatory across multiple industries. While this shift promises greater transparency, traceability, and environmental accountability, it also presents a stark warning for businesses that fail to prepare in time.

According to a recent analysis by GS1 UK (2024), companies that delay adapting to the coming DPP requirements could face an average cost of £1.5 million per year. This figure highlights the very real financial risks of inaction — not only in regulatory fines, but also in lost efficiency, wasted resources, and missed opportunities.

Where the costs come from

Failing to prepare for DPPs has multiple knock-on effects:

Administrative burden: Without automated systems, firms face soaring documentation workloads and duplicated effort.
Market access risk: Non-compliance can mean losing access to EU markets entirely.
Reputational damage: Customers, investors, and partners increasingly demand transparency. Falling behind erodes trust.
Opportunity cost: Businesses that can’t provide real-time product data risk being excluded from supply chains that require compliance-ready partners.

The case for early action

What the GS1 UK findings make clear is that compliance isn’t optional — and leaving it to the last minute is costly. By acting now, companies can spread costs, avoid disruption, and even turn compliance into a competitive advantage.

Platforms like Protag automate the creation of DPPs by extracting, structuring, and validating data across supply chains. Instead of treating documentation as a drain on resources, businesses can:

Cut compliance costs dramatically
Reduce manual errors and audit risks
Win business by providing trusted, transparent product data
Ensure ESPR readiness years before deadlines hit

Regulation as opportunity

While £1.5 million per year sounds like a threat, it can also be seen as a signal: the price of doing nothing is high, but the rewards of acting early are even greater.

Firms that prepare today won’t just avoid losses — they’ll gain efficiency, trust, and a stronger position in the new sustainability-driven marketplace.

References

GS1 UK (2024). Failing to prepare for EU Digital Product Passports could cost the average UK business £1.5 million per year. Available at: https://www.gs1uk.org/insights/news/failing-to-prepare-for-EU-Digital-Product-passports-could-cost-the-average-UK-business-%C2%A31.5%20million-per-year
European Commission (2022). Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR): Making sustainable products the norm. Available at: https://environment.ec.europa.eu