Where does a Digital Link lead?

In short:

A Sales Unit is a Product plus its Packaging. Each of the three has its own identifier and its own Digital Link: a web address that contains that identifier. The Sales Unit Digital Link serves commerce and leads to Landing Pages and eLabels. The Product Digital Link stays with the product after unboxing and leads to the EU-DPP. The Packaging Digital Link leads to the Packaging Dossier for PPWR and EPR. The prodigi.link resolver sends each link to the right destination, whether it arrives through a data carrier (QR code, Data Matrix, NFC, RFID) or through data exchange (GDSN, spreadsheets, email, APIs).

Why these terms are needed

"DPP", "eLabel", "smart label", "product information page", "QR code": in the market these words are used for almost anything that opens after scanning a product. That causes real confusion, even in expert discussions about the EU Digital Product Passport.

The biggest misconception is that the EU-DPP is a web page behind a QR code on the Sales Unit. For durable products, the Sales Unit's packaging is removed and discarded before the product is even used. The passport has to stay with the product through use, repair, resale and recycling, so its carrier belongs on the product itself. And the EU-DPP is not a web page: it is a regulated data record in a system.

This article fixes the vocabulary SyncForce uses, so that one word always means one thing.

Sales Unit = Product + Packaging

In the SyncForce Golden Hierarchy, a Sales Unit combines a Product with its Packaging. The three objects have different life cycles, are governed by different rules, and each has its own identifier.

	Sales Unit Digital Link	Product Digital Link	Packaging Digital Link
Domain	Commerce	Compliance (product)	Compliance (packaging)
Identifier	GTIN	Product ID (model, batch or item), e.g. VTA Product Model ID	Packaging System ID
Syntax	GS1 Digital Link	Data Identifier 25P, query form (EN 18219)	Data Identifier 31B
Example	`https://prodigi.link/01/8003340050362`	`https://prodigi.link/?.25P=VTA-MPLA-PM-346UJI3NUM`	`https://prodigi.link/31B/VTA-MPLA-PS-T46GD61T`
Regulations	eLabel rules where they apply (e.g. wine)	ESPR, Batteries Regulation, Detergents and Surfactants Regulation	PPWR, EPR
Lifetime	Until the pack is opened and discarded	The life of the product, including repair, resale and recycling	Until the packaging is collected, sorted and recycled
Typical carrier or route	QR code on the pack (successor of the barcode)	QR code or Data Matrix on the product; RFID for business use	Data exchange with customers, suppliers and EPR schemes
Destinations	Landing Page, eLabel	EU-DPP (View and data), Open eLabel, Landing Page	Packaging Dossier

The carrier belongs on the object it describes

A Digital Link is carried on, or shared with, the object whose identifier it contains. For the EU-DPP, SyncForce applies this principle:

The EU-DPP carrier belongs on the product, not on the Sales Unit. For durable products, the Sales Unit's packaging is gone before the use phase starts. The EU-DPP needs a carrier with the product identifier on the product itself, so that repairers, second-hand buyers, collectors and recyclers can still reach it years later.
The exception is detergents. A liquid or powder cannot carry a code. The Detergents and Surfactants Regulation (EU) 2026/405 therefore requires the data carrier on the label or the packaging, visible before purchase, and on the refill station for refill sales.

This follows the legal framework. The ESPR allows the data carrier on the product, its packaging or the accompanying documentation, with the exact location set per product group in the delegated act. Its starting point is that the carrier should be on the product itself, with exceptions where the nature, size or use of the product does not allow it. The Batteries Regulation requires the QR code to be printed or engraved on the battery.

The Sales Unit Digital Link can still point to product information, for example a Landing Page that links on to the EU-DPP View. But where the EU-DPP is keyed on the product identifier, the Sales Unit Digital Link is not the compliance route to it.

From identifier to destination

Getting from an object to its information always follows the same chain. Each link in the chain has its own term.

Term	What it is	Examples
Identifier	The unique code of the object	GTIN, Product ID, Packaging System ID
Digital Link	A web address that contains the identifier, in a standard syntax, so that any browser or system can follow it	Sales Unit, Product or Packaging Digital Link
Data carrier	The physical means on the product, its packaging or its documentation that holds the Digital Link or the identifier	QR code, Data Matrix, NFC tag, RAIN RFID tag (for example woven into a label thread or placed behind a care label)
Data exchange	Sharing the Digital Link as data, without a physical carrier	GDSN and other data pools, product data feeds to retailers and marketplaces, spreadsheets, email, APIs
Resolver	The service that receives a Digital Link and forwards the request to the right destination, in the right format	prodigi.link
Destination	What the request ends up at	Landing Page, eLabel, Packaging Dossier, EU-DPP

Two remarks on carriers:

Not every carrier holds the full link. A QR code or NFC tag can hold the complete Digital Link. An RFID tag usually holds only the identifier; the reading system turns it into the Digital Link.
Not every carrier can be read by everyone. A QR code and an NFC tag can be read with an ordinary phone. RAIN RFID needs a dedicated reader. The working rule is therefore: RFID for business use (logistics, retail, sorting and recycling) and QR code for consumers. For the EU-DPP, at least one carrier must open the public EU-DPP in a normal phone browser, so RFID alone is not enough there.

Data exchange matters as much as carriers. For the EU-DPP, the product identifier must also be provided to retailers and online marketplaces. In practice the Product Digital Link travels with the Sales Unit data, for example through GDSN.

The format depends on who is asking. A person using a browser receives a web page (HTML); an application asking for data receives JSON. The same Digital Link can serve both.

Destination types

Landing Page

Any page a Digital Link leads to without a legal obligation. The company decides the content: product specifications, cross-sell and upsell, maintenance planning, refills, product registration, recipes, promotions, contests, recalls. No obligation, no limitation.

A Landing Page can sit at any level: a company page, a brand page, a product line page, a product model page on the brand website or webshop, or a page for one specific Sales Unit. A Sales Unit Digital Link does not have to lead to a page about that one Sales Unit: in a first phase, all GTINs of a brand can lead to the brand's Landing Page, and be redirected to more specific pages later without reprinting.

eLabel

A page whose content is wholly or partly required by EU law. EU legislation uses terms such as "electronic label" (wine) and "digital label" (detergents). The scope and format of the required content are set by the regulation, and they are still growing and evolving. There are two variants:

Closed eLabel: only the required content, nothing else. Example: the electronic label for wine (since 8 December 2023). Ingredients and nutrition information may be given through a QR code, but the e-label may not contain sales or marketing information, may not lead to the producer's website, and may not collect or track user data.
Open eLabel: the required content is presented first; other content may exist next to it. Examples: the QR code that all batteries must carry from 18 February 2027 under the Batteries Regulation, giving access to the battery's labelling information and declaration of conformity. And the digital label for detergents under Regulation (EU) 2026/405, where the required information must be grouped in one place and separated from other information, and usage may not be tracked or analysed.

The energy label already works with a QR code that leads to the EU's own product database (EPREL). The ESPR foresees linking the EU-DPP with EPREL where feasible, and SyncForce expects this information to become part of the EU-DPP over time.

Packaging Dossier

The published compliance documentation of a Packaging System, reached through the Packaging Digital Link. It brings together the information needed for PPWR and EPR: the Declaration of Conformity, the technical documentation set, and the packaging components with their material specifications for EPR reporting.

The same link serves two formats. A browser receives the HTML version for people to read; a system that asks for JSON receives the machine-readable dossier. Every publication is kept as a version. The Packaging Digital Link is typically shared through data exchange with customers, suppliers and EPR schemes, rather than printed on the pack.

A Packaging Dossier is regulated, structured and machine-readable, but it is not an EU-DPP. The PPWR does not create a Digital Product Passport for packaging. It does connect the two: where the packaged product has an EU-DPP, the PPWR intends the packaging information to be made available through that passport and the same data carrier. The Packaging Dossier is then the source the product's EU-DPP links to. One Packaging System can serve many Sales Units, so the dossier is published once.

EU-DPP

EU-DPP is reserved for the EU Digital Product Passport as a system: a unique product identifier, a data carrier on the product, a structured data set with public and controlled sections, a standard API, archived versions, a back-up copy held by a back-up DPP service provider, signatures that prove authenticity, and registration in the EU registry where the regulation requires it. The EN norms define each part: identifiers (EN 18219), data carriers (EN 18220), exchange protocols (EN 18216), storage and back-up (EN 18221), API (EN 18222), data model (EN 18223), access rights (EN 18239) and authenticity (EN 18246). The first passport in force is the battery passport under the Batteries Regulation, from 18 February 2027, for LMT batteries, industrial batteries above 2 kWh and EV batteries. Detergents follow under their own regulation, (EU) 2026/405, and textiles and other product groups through ESPR delegated acts.

The main users of an EU-DPP are applications: tools of market surveillance authorities, a brand's own product app, repair service providers, collectors, sorters and recyclers, and second-hand platforms. These applications read the passport data directly, as JSON, through the standard EU-DPP API.

The data has two parts:

Public data: open to anyone, without login.
Controlled data: available only after authentication and authorisation, per data element and per role. The EN norms define how access is controlled (EN 18239); which roles see which data elements is set per product group in the delegated acts, and for most product groups that is not yet defined.

EU-DPP View

The human-readable view of the public part of an EU-DPP, generated from the passport data. The EN norms require an EU-DPP to be available both as JSON and as HTML, so when someone opens the Product Digital Link in a browser, they see a web page. That page is the EU-DPP View, not the EU-DPP.

The EU-DPP View has strict rules. The path from carrier to view must be clean: no marketing page in between, no tracking, no profiling of the person scanning, no request for personal data. Marketing content can be offered from the view or through a separate link, but never in front of it.

So one product identifier leads to one EU-DPP, with two representations: the EU-DPP View (HTML) for people, and the EU-DPP data (JSON, public and controlled) for applications.

Overview

Destination	Rules	Audience	Format	Reached through
Landing Page	No obligation, no limitation	Consumers, customers	HTML	Sales Unit or Product Digital Link
Closed eLabel	Content and format fully prescribed; no marketing, no tracking	Consumers	HTML	Sales Unit Digital Link
Open eLabel	Required content first and kept together; other content allowed under the regulation's conditions	Consumers, end users	HTML	Sales Unit and/or Product Digital Link
Packaging Dossier	PPWR and EPR documentation	Business partners, authorities, EPR reporting	HTML and JSON	Packaging Digital Link
EU-DPP View	Generated from the EU-DPP; no marketing or tracking in the path	People: consumers, repairers, inspectors	HTML (public data only)	Product Digital Link
EU-DPP data	Full EU-DPP framework; public and controlled data	Applications: authority tools, product apps, repair, recycling, second-hand	JSON via the EU-DPP API	Product Digital Link

Which destination is possible at which level

Level	Landing Page	eLabel	Packaging Dossier	EU-DPP (View and data)
Company	✓	–	–	–
Brand	✓	–	–	–
Product Line	✓	–	–	–
Product Model	✓	✓ (Open, e.g. batteries)	–	✓
Sales Unit (GTIN)	✓	✓ (Closed or Open)	–	–
Packaging System	–	–	✓	–
Batch / Item	✓	–	–	✓ (when the delegated act requires it)

Three rules follow from this table:

An eLabel or EU-DPP never sits at company, brand or product line level. Mandated information is always about one specific product or Sales Unit.
In SyncForce, an EU-DPP is keyed on the product, not on the Sales Unit. It uses the product identifier (model, batch or item). The EN norms also accept a GTIN-based identifier, so this is a modelling choice, not a legal rule: it keeps the passport with the product after the pack is gone. For detergents, where product and pack cannot be separated, the passport is carried on the label. A Product Model page on the brand website and the EU-DPP for that same model are two different things.
A Packaging Dossier belongs to the Packaging System, not to a Sales Unit or Product.

Terms we avoid

"DPP" for a web page. Use EU-DPP only for the passport system, and EU-DPP View for its page.
"DPP QR code on the pack." For durable products, the EU-DPP carrier is on the product, not on the Sales Unit packaging. Detergents are the exception.
"QR code" for the link. The QR code is one data carrier. The link is the Digital Link, and it also travels through NFC, RFID, GDSN, spreadsheets and email.
SmartLabel as a category. It is a brand name; a SmartLabel page is a Landing Page or an eLabel, depending on the rules that apply.
PIP as a category. "Product information page" is a GS1 link type: a route to a destination, not a destination type.
"Brand page" for unregulated pages in general. A brand page is a Landing Page at brand level.

Frequently asked questions

Is a web page behind a QR code a Digital Product Passport?

No. A web page behind a QR code is a Landing Page or an eLabel. An EU-DPP is a regulated data record with a unique product identifier, a standard data model and API, archived versions, a back-up copy and, where the regulation requires it, registration in the EU registry. The page you see when you open the Product Digital Link of a product with an EU-DPP is the EU-DPP View, generated from that record.

Should the EU-DPP QR code be on the packaging?

Not for durable products. The Sales Unit packaging is removed before the product is used, while the passport must remain available during use, repair, resale and recycling. The carrier with the product identifier therefore goes on the product itself. Detergents are the exception: the product cannot carry a code, so Regulation (EU) 2026/405 requires the data carrier on the label or packaging. Legally, the ESPR allows the carrier on the product, its packaging or the accompanying documentation, as set per product group in the delegated act, but its starting point is the product itself.

Why does one Sales Unit have three Digital Links?

Because a Sales Unit is a Product plus its Packaging, and each has its own identity, rules and life cycle. The Sales Unit Digital Link (GTIN) serves commerce. The Product Digital Link serves the EU-DPP and stays with the product. The Packaging Digital Link serves PPWR and EPR through the Packaging Dossier.

Who uses the EU-DPP if it is not a web page?

Mainly applications: inspection tools of market surveillance authorities, a brand's own product app, repair service providers, collectors, sorters and recyclers, and second-hand platforms. They read the passport data as JSON through the EU-DPP API. Public data is open to all; controlled data is released per data element and per role, after authentication and authorisation.

Is a Digital Link the same as a QR code?

No. The Digital Link is the web address with the identifier. A QR code is one way to carry it on a product or pack; Data Matrix, NFC and RFID are others. The Digital Link can also be shared without any carrier, through GDSN and other data pools, product data feeds, spreadsheets or email.

Can RFID be used for the EU-DPP?

RFID is one of the data carriers the EN norms allow, and in fashion it is a likely choice, for example woven into a label thread or placed behind a care label. But consumers cannot read RAIN RFID with an ordinary phone, and at least one carrier must open the public EU-DPP in a normal phone browser. The usual combination is RFID for business use (logistics, retail, sorting and recycling) and a QR code for consumers.

What is the difference between an eLabel and an EU-DPP?

An eLabel is a page with information a regulation requires on or with the product, such as wine ingredients or battery information. An EU-DPP is a full data system for a product across its life cycle: economic operators, materials, repair and end-of-life. Some eLabel information is expected to move into the EU-DPP over time.

Can marketing content be combined with mandatory information?

It depends on the regulation. A Closed eLabel (wine) allows no sales or marketing information and no tracking of users. For an Open eLabel, other content may exist next to the required content, under the regulation's conditions: for detergents, the required information must be grouped and separated from other information, and usage may not be tracked. For an EU-DPP View, marketing may be offered from the view or through a separate link, but nothing may stand between the carrier and the view.

Is the Packaging Dossier an EU-DPP for packaging?

No. The Packaging Dossier is the published PPWR and EPR documentation of a Packaging System, in HTML and JSON. It shares several characteristics with an EU-DPP (a persistent identifier, structured data, versioning) but it is not a Digital Product Passport. Where the packaged product has an EU-DPP, the PPWR intends the packaging information to be reachable through that passport, so the product's EU-DPP can link to the Packaging Dossier.

Can one Digital Link lead to different destinations?

Yes. The resolver decides where a request goes, so the destination can change over time, for example from a brand Landing Page to a Sales Unit eLabel, and the format depends on who is asking: a person gets HTML, an application gets JSON. What the link identifies stays the same. For an EU-DPP, the Product Digital Link on the carrier must always open the EU-DPP View directly.

Legal sources

Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR): digital product passport, data carrier, back-up copy, access rights and registry.
Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (Batteries Regulation): QR code on all batteries and battery passport from 18 February 2027.
Regulation (EU) 2026/405 (Detergents and Surfactants Regulation): digital label, digital product passport and data carrier on the label or packaging.
Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR): packaging labelling, QR code or other digital data carrier, EU declaration of conformity and technical documentation.
Regulation (EU) 2021/2117, amending Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013: electronic label for wine.
EN 18216, EN 18219, EN 18220, EN 18221, EN 18222, EN 18223, EN 18239 and EN 18246: European standards for the digital product passport.

This article explains concepts and SyncForce's approach. It is not legal advice; the regulation texts and the product-group delegated acts prevail.