Overview
SIST EN 18223:2026 - Digital Product Passport - System Interoperability defines the interoperability framework that enables robust exchange, management, and ongoing integration of digital product passports (DPP) across sectors and organizations. Developed by SIST following the CEN/CLC/JTC 24 Technical Committee, this European standard addresses the growing need for seamless, harmonized data sharing on product characteristics, lifecycles, and sustainability attributes within the digital product passport ecosystem.
Complying with the interoperability layers outlined in European and international best practices, SIST EN 18223:2026 ensures that digital product data is structured, accessible, and understandable by both humans and machines. The standard is applicable to manufacturers, suppliers, regulators, and IT solution providers seeking to comply with evolving ecodesign and sustainability requirements within the EU regulatory framework.
Key Topics
1. Semantic Description and Lifecycle Representation
- Establishes a standardized semantic model capturing key product properties and lifecycle stages
- Enables the consistent publication, retrieval, and update of product data with strong reference mechanisms
2. Common Information Models and Data Dictionaries
- Implements a decoupled information model to facilitate cross-sector integration via data dictionaries
- Supports referencing semantic definitions using unique identifiers stored in repositories
3. Metadata Models and Exchange Formats
- Specifies the structure and metadata needed for product property representation and documents
- Supports both single-value and multi-value data elements, ensuring flexibility in data handling
4. Systematic Use of Metadata in Custom Models
- Provides guidelines for extending and specializing the general model to specific product groups
- Stresses the use of common metadata models to ensure compatibility and reusability
5. Technical and Organizational Interoperability
- Outlines requirements for data serialization and exchange using standardized syntaxes
- Promotes systematic logging, versioning, and archiving of product passport modifications for lifecycle traceability
- Encourages both automated and manual (human) access to DPP data
Applications
Digital Product Passport (DPP) Interoperability is vital for:
- Manufacturers and suppliers who need to generate, update, and exchange DPPs across value chains and IT platforms
- Regulatory compliance, notably for EU sustainability and ecodesign requirements (including Commission Regulation No 2024/1781)
- Supply chain transparency, enabling accurate sharing and tracking of product properties, environmental performance, and lifecycle events
- Sustainability assessment, supporting circular economy goals by providing trusted, machine-readable information on durability, recyclability, and more
- IT solution providers, who can build or adapt data exchange and management systems leveraging standardized metadata models, data structures, and repositories
- Authorities and market surveillance, ensuring data consistency, accessibility, and traceability for legal and regulatory auditing
Related Standards
SIST EN 18223:2026 aligns with and draws on recognized international and European standards, such as:
- ISO 18435-1: Industrial automation systems - general requirements for diagnostics and data exchange
- ISO 18308: Health informatics - electronic record architecture requirements, as reference for semantic interoperability
- W3C XML Schema standards: Guidance on supported data types and serialization formats for structured information
- EN ISO 11354-1: Framework for establishing manufacturing process interoperability
- EN ISO 80000-1: Quantities and units, guiding consistent measurement representation
- prEN 18216: Data exchange protocols specific to digital product passports
This standard also directly supports compliance with European ecodesign and sustainability regulations, notably Commission Regulation (EU) No 2024/1781 and related directives on digital product passports and sustainable products.
By adopting SIST EN 18223:2026, organizations ensure that digital product passport data is interoperable, future-proof, and ready to address both regulatory demands and market needs for sustainability, transparency, and digital integration.
