Electronics & ICT
You already hold most of this data. It just cannot be read.
WEEE, RoHS and REACH-SCIP each demand a slice of the same product record, reported separately and stored where no recycler can reach it. A passport gives those obligations one identity and one resolvable address.
- In force today
- WEEE · RoHS · REACH
- Coming
- ESPR delegated act
- Reads it
- Recyclers, regulators
GS1 Digital Link
id.circuleid.com/01/09506000134352
- Product
- Merino Crew Knit
- GTIN
- 09506000134352
- Material composition
- 82% RWS merino · 18% recycled PA
- Carbon footprint
- 14.2 kg CO₂e · ISO 14067
- Recycled content
- 18.4% by mass
- End-of-life route
- Take-back · fibre-to-fibre
Illustrative passport record. Field coverage follows the ESPR delegated act for the product group.
Definition
What goes in an electronics Digital Product Passport?
An electronics passport carries material composition, substances of concern with their SCIP references, disassembly and depollution instructions, spare part availability, repairability data, and recovery routes. It consolidates the WEEE, RoHS and REACH obligations a manufacturer already reports separately into one record a recycler or regulator can resolve directly.
The obligations are not new. WEEE 2012/19/EU, RoHS and REACH-SCIP have required this data for years; the ESPR changes who can read it and when, by requiring it to travel with the product rather than sitting in a compliance system.
Obligations
Four instruments, one dataset
| Instrument | What it requires | Passport data it draws on |
|---|---|---|
| WEEE 2012/19/EU | Take-back, treatment and reporting for electrical equipment | Disassembly sequence, hazardous components, material composition |
| RoHS 2011/65/EU | Restriction of hazardous substances in electrical equipment | Substance declarations at homogeneous material level |
| REACH · SCIP | Notification of substances of very high concern in articles | Substance identity, concentration range, component location |
| ESPR (EU) 2024/1781 | A passport per product group, set by delegated act | The above, plus repairability, durability and recycled content |
Capabilities
What the platform adds
Substance declarations
Substances of concern held at component level with their SCIP references, not as a single article-level attachment.
Disassembly instructions
Ordered depollution steps and fastener types, released to verified treatment facilities.
Repairability facts
Spare part availability, lead times and disassembly depth — the inputs a score is computed from.
Component-level identity
Batteries, displays and boards carry their own identity, so a replaced part updates the passport rather than invalidating it.
Counterfeit part detection
A component asserting a credential no issuer will vouch for is visible before it reaches a service centre.
Critical raw materials
Where the recoverable value sits, so a treatment facility can justify recovering it rather than shredding.
Implementation
From compliance system to resolvable passport
- 01
Import the existing declarations
RoHS declarations and SCIP notifications are already structured. They map onto the passport model without re-collection.
- 02
Attach treatment data
Disassembly sequences and hazardous component locations usually exist as service documentation. They become structured, addressable fields.
- 03
Set the access policy
Decide what is public, what a verified recycler sees, and what stays restricted — per product group, per regulation.
- 04
Issue and resolve
The carrier on the device resolves to the caller-appropriate view, whether the reader is a consumer, a repairer or a treatment facility.
Answers
Frequently asked questions
How does a Digital Product Passport relate to WEEE and RoHS?
WEEE 2012/19/EU governs take-back and treatment, RoHS restricts hazardous substances, and REACH requires SCIP notification for articles containing substances of very high concern. Each already requires product-level data. A passport does not add a new dataset so much as give the existing ones one identity, one source and one place a recycler can read them from.
What does a recycler actually need from an electronics passport?
The disassembly sequence, the fastener types, where the battery and any capacitors sit, and which components carry substances of concern. That information decides whether a device is depolluted safely and whether critical raw materials are recovered or lost. It is also the part most manufacturers hold internally and have never had a route to publish.
Does the passport have to expose our bill of materials?
No. Access is role-scoped. A recycler sees disassembly and hazardous substance locations; a regulator sees the compliance dataset and its evidence; supplier identities and commercial terms stay restricted to you. Publishing a full bill of materials is neither required by the regulations nor something CirculeID does by default.
How is repairability represented?
As the underlying facts rather than a single score: spare part availability and lead time, disassembly depth to reach common failure points, fastener types, and whether firmware or diagnostics gate a repair. Scores differ by scheme and change; the facts behind them are stable and can be recomputed into whichever index an act specifies.
Can this cover products already in the field?
Yes, and it is usually where the return is. A device sold five years ago still enters the waste stream, and a passport issued retrospectively against its model identity gives the recycler the treatment data. Item-level history will be missing, but model-level composition, disassembly and substance data is normally recoverable from your own records.
Next step
Start with one product family
Bring an existing RoHS declaration and SCIP notification. We will show you the passport they already almost make.