The supplier questionnaire for your Digital Product Passport
Request material composition, origin, certificates and recycled content from your suppliers in a structured way – as a fillable CSV table and as a ready-made cover letter to send. Both templates are available to download free of charge and without registration.
A working aid for data collection, not legal advice: which fields are mandatory for your product group is only settled definitively by the delegated act of the relevant regulation.
The supplier questionnaire is usually the first concrete step on the way to the Digital Product Passport – even before choosing a software. This page offers the template for download along with the practical experience of how a round of requests actually reaches its goal.
Why supplier data is the real bottleneck
Software for the product passport can be set up in days; supplier data takes weeks. As the cost calculation for the Digital Product Passport shows, data collection along the supply chain is regularly the largest cost block in a DPP project – not because the individual answer is laborious, but because every round of requests brings a waiting time of weeks to months that can hardly be shortened. Anyone who only plans for that waiting time shortly before their own key date runs into exactly the time pressure that the guide to creating a Digital Product Passport describes as the biggest risk in the whole process. The questionnaire on this page is therefore deliberately kept short, so that a first round can start today instead of waiting for perfect preparation.
What is “good enough” in the first round of requests
For a first round of requests, not every field has to be filled in. It makes sense to start with the largest material shares and the most easily reachable suppliers, and to keep gaps visible but not blocking: an “unknown” with a date is a better starting position than an empty line with no trace of a request at all. Transfer the state you have reached into the DPP configurator on a trial basis – the completeness indicator there shows immediately which gaps weigh most heavily for your product group, and so supplies the priority for your next follow-up. This iterative approach is worthwhile for smaller teams in particular: the roadmap for the Digital Product Passport at SMEs describes how the effort can be spread across several short rounds instead of shouldering one large project.
When a supplier does not reply
If no response arrives, what helps most is a documented second attempt at contact with a clear deadline – after that, a conservative estimate with the source noted is preferable to an open gap. How much responsibility actually lies with you depends on your role in the supply chain: the overview of who is responsible for the Digital Product Passport explains when brands answer as manufacturers for missing or incorrect supplier information – and when they do not. In every case the same applies: a product passport with cleanly marked open points is the better choice, legally and practically, than a delayed passport or one that is never published at all.
Which fields the questionnaire contains
Every row of the CSV template stands for one material component of a product. This overview explains each field – including for suppliers hearing about a Digital Product Passport for the first time.
| Field | What to enter | Why it is required |
|---|---|---|
| Article number | Your internal article or SKU number, as it also appears on the delivery note and the invoice. | Links the information unambiguously to the right article in the product passport – without it, responses cannot be assigned. |
| Product name | The name of the product the information applies to. | Makes the row comprehensible even without the article number, for example when reconciling against the range. |
| Component/part | The part of the product the row refers to, e.g. upper material, sole, fastener, housing, battery. | The product passport requires material data per component, not just an overall composition – a product usually needs several rows. |
| Material name | The material or raw material used, ideally with its common name (e.g. polyester, cotton, aluminium, polyacetal). | Material composition is one of the central mandatory data points of almost all ESPR product groups. |
| Material share % | Share of this material in the weight of the component named, as a percentage. | Without a quantity, a material list says little; the shares per component should add up to 100%. |
| Supplier | Name of the supplier or plant that actually manufactures this component. | Documents the supply chain and names the contact for future updates. |
| Country of manufacture | The country in which the component was manufactured or the material was extracted or processed. | Origin data is among the mandatory information of the product passport and is increasingly asked for by customers too. |
| Production site (town) | Town or region of the production facility, where known. | Makes the country of manufacture more precise and eases later evidence, in audits for instance. |
| Certificate/standard | Relevant certification or standard for the material or its manufacture (e.g. GRS, OEKO-TEX, FSC, ISO 14001). | Certificates substantiate claims such as recycled content or freedom from hazardous substances and are referenced in the product passport. |
| Certificate number | The identification or licence number of the certificate. | Makes the certificate unambiguously verifiable – a type of certificate without a number cannot be verified. |
| Valid until | Expiry date of the certificate (format DD/MM/YYYY). | An expired certificate in a published product passport is a compliance risk; the date determines when you have to ask again. |
| Recycled content % | Share of recycled material in this component, as a percentage (0 if not applicable). | Recycled content is an explicit mandatory data point for several product groups and the basis for environmental claims. |
| Substances of concern (SVHC) | Whether the component contains substances on the REACH SVHC candidate list above the threshold of 0.1% by mass – and if so, which. | Stating substances of concern is a legal REACH information duty and a core element of every product passport. |
| Repairability/spare parts | Whether the component can be replaced, whether spare parts are available and for what period. | Repairability is one of the central circularity criteria of the ecodesign regulation. |
| Disposal/take-back note | How the component is to be disposed of at end of life, or whether a take-back scheme exists. | Disposal instructions are among the mandatory information around the circularity of the product. |
| Remark | Room for context the other columns do not cover, e.g. limitations of a statement or references to evidence. | Catches special cases without complicating the table structure for every other row. |
How to go about it
Five steps for a round of requests that actually brings back complete answers.
- 1
Define the field list
Pick only the columns from the template that you genuinely need for your product group. Fewer fields answered in full are worth more than a long list with half answers.
- 2
Send out the questionnaire
Send one table per supplier – with all affected articles and components in it – rather than one request per article. Name a concrete response deadline and a contact person for queries.
- 3
Follow up at the halfway point
In practice only some suppliers answer on time. A short reminder halfway through the deadline noticeably raises the response rate – plan this step in from the start.
- 4
Check the responses
Check incoming information for completeness and plausibility (material shares adding up to 100%, certificate validity in the future, for example) and follow up specifically on individual gaps.
- 5
Transfer the data and set a date
Transfer the checked information into your product passport, via the DPP configurator or directly in SolveDPP, and put a date in the calendar before the certificates expire so the next round of requests starts in good time.
Getting suppliers to actually respond
The questionnaire is only half the work – whether you get usable answers is mostly decided beforehand.
Only ask for the fields you need
Every additional column costs response rate. Before sending, check which fields your product group actually requires, and drop the rest for this round.
One file per supplier, not per article
Bundle all affected articles and components of a supplier into one table. Ten separate emails for ten articles from the same supplier are pure extra effort on both sides.
Set a real deadline
“When you get a chance” brings no response. Name a concrete date, put it in your own calendar and follow up actively instead of waiting.
Explain it as a legal duty, not as a survey
Make clear in the cover letter that this is a regulatory requirement (the ESPR product passport obligation), not a voluntary sustainability initiative. That noticeably changes how seriously the request is taken.
Accept “unknown” rather than an empty field
An honest “unknown” can be followed up on later in a targeted way; an empty field, by contrast, looks like a forgotten row and often goes unnoticed.
Frequently asked questions
Which data do I have to request from suppliers?
At their core, the ESPR and the EU Battery Regulation require information on material composition, origin, recycled content, substances of concern, repairability and disposal – which is what this questionnaire covers. Which fields are ultimately mandatory for your specific product group is only settled definitively by the respective delegated act; until then the template covers the cross-sector core set.
How do I get suppliers to deliver the data?
The most effective elements are a clear, realistic deadline, a fixed contact person for queries and a short explanation that this is a legal requirement, not a voluntary sustainability survey. Also request only the fields you really need – a shorter form comes back faster and more completely.
What do I do if a supplier does not reply?
Follow up once in writing and document the attempted contact – in case of doubt that demonstrates diligence. If no answer arrives, enter “unknown” and estimate conservatively rather than blocking the whole project; who answers for the missing information depends on your role in the supply chain.
Do I have to send a separate request for each product?
No – it makes more sense to send one request per supplier that brings together all affected articles and components in a single table. That reduces the number of emails on both sides and makes it easier for the supplier to fill in similar information in one go.
Is the information on the delivery note enough?
Rarely. Delivery notes usually state quantity and description, but no material shares, certificate numbers or recycled content. They are a good starting point for identifying suppliers, but they do not replace a structured request.
Is the questionnaire free of charge?
Yes. The CSV template and the cover letter are available to download without registration and without anything in return, and can be freely adapted.
Take supplier data straight into the product passport
With SolveDPP you transfer checked supplier information straight into your product passports – validated against the mandatory data points of your product group, with Shopify import and an automatic alert when certificates are about to expire.
