What happens to the product passport if my company stops operating?

The passport remains if the company stops

The product passport does not disappear when the company behind it stops. The passport is linked to the product and to the QR data carrier on it, not to the continued existence of the enterprise that supplied the data. As long as the product remains on the market or is in use by consumers, the information entered at that time remains accessible via the QR code — regardless of whether the brand, importer or private label party that had the passport created still exists. For texpas.eu, this concretely means that the passport continues for the agreed hosting period of ten years, even if the client goes bankrupt, is taken over, dissolved or ceases to exist for any other reason.

Which situations this applies to and which it does not

This subject concerns the continuity of an already published passport when the enterprise that supplied the data is no longer active — due to bankruptcy, liquidation, merger, takeover or simply business termination. It is not about whether new products need a passport after business termination (that question is moot: no new products will be placed on the market) and nor is it about what happens if a product itself is withdrawn from the market while the company continues — that is a different scenario with different consequences for the passport. A takeover is also a separate situation: if the enterprise (or the brand) passes to another party, responsibility for the underlying data usually passes with it, and there is someone who can update the data. For a company that stops completely without a successor, there is no longer anyone actively managing the content — but that does not mean the passport itself goes offline.

When this becomes relevant

For textiles and clothing, the obligation for a digital product passport is not yet active. The expectation is that this will apply around 2029, but that date is not yet fixed. What is fixed: in the European Commission's work plan for the ESPR (2025-2030), a delegated act for textiles is planned for 2027, and it is expected to first affect clothing with eighty percent or more textile fibres. Once that act is published, it will be known from which date passports for clothing become mandatory — and thus also from which point the question "what happens if my company stops" can first arise in practice. Until that time, there is no legal obligation for a passport, and therefore no legal question about its continuity. This page therefore mainly describes how that will work, and how texpas.eu already arranges it for companies that want to get started now.

What this means in practice

For a company that already works with a passport or is considering starting, the sequence is as follows. First: when entering into an agreement for the digital product passport, it is important that the hosting period (at texpas.eu ten years) is separate from the continuity of your own business — that is precisely why that period is fixed in advance and is not dependent on ongoing payment or activity. Next, in the event of a planned takeover or merger: it is advisable to include the transfer of data management for existing passports in the takeover documentation, so that it is clear who is authorized to have data adjusted after the takeover. In the event of business cessation without takeover — insolvency or voluntary liquidation — the passport itself remains online as it was at the moment of cessation; there is then no party that will still change the content, but the information that was there remains accessible to those who have already purchased the product or resell it. For a liquidator or receiver is relevant that the ongoing agreement with the platform where the passport is hosted is separate from the other ongoing contracts of the business — the passport is not an asset that needs to be dealt with separately, it simply continues until the agreed period has elapsed.

Where this is based on: Article 10 and Article 13 of the ESPR

Article 10 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR) sets out the requirements for the digital product passport, including accessibility via the data carrier during the period that this is relevant for the product. This requirement is linked to the product, not to the market participant who provided the data — that is why a passport can in principle continue to exist even if that market participant no longer does. Article 13 governs the register of digital product passports, in which passports are recorded with a unique identification. Because a passport has a registered, independent identity, it is not inherently dependent on the operational status of the business that had it created. The precise implementation of what happens to a passport when a business ceases is set out in the delegated act for textiles that is still to be published; until then, the above is a description of how the existing articles and the service provision of texpas.eu are organized with respect to this.

Anyone who already works with a digital product passport or is going to work with one is well advised to read their own agreement with the hosting platform on what is laid down in it regarding continuity when the business ceases, and to include this point in takeover documentation or, in the event of insolvency, in the overview that is handed over to the liquidator.

What this is based on

The regulation itself is available on EUR-Lex. We provide references for each statement; you do not need to take our word for it.

What you must do concretely

What is expected of you

A product passport is not linked to the continued existence of the company that once had it created, but to the product that has already been placed on the market. That product continues to exist — in the consumer's wardrobe, in the second-hand shop, on a second-hand platform — even if the company behind it has ceased to exist. Article 10 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) sets requirements for the availability of the passport, and those requirements do not take into account the business closure of the party that had the passport compiled.

Think things through before taking the step, not after

What is practically expected of a company with 10 to 100 employees is that the issue of continuity is considered as soon as stopping, selling or merging becomes a serious possibility — not only on the day the doors close. A product passport that runs via an external host will in principle continue to exist as long as that host exists and the agreements continue. A passport that runs on its own infrastructure disappears with that infrastructure, unless something has been arranged for it beforehand.

The role of the register

Article 13 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) describes the register of digital product passports, in which certain data on passports are centrally recorded. What exactly goes into that register and how this relates to the continued existence of an individual passport is described on the page on the European register. For a company that is closing, it is relevant that a registration in the name of a legal entity does not automatically move or disappear at the moment that legal entity is dissolved — how this is handled in practice is not yet fully worked out in the delegated regulations.

Transfer of responsibility

In a takeover, merger or restart, the question "who is responsible for this passport" goes hand in hand with the question "who is the legal successor". This is not a separate product passport question, but an ordinary continuity question that always arises in a business takeover — except that here the host, the domain name and the link with the GS1 Digital Link system are also added, if that system is used for the identification codes.

Discontinuation without transfer

For a company that stops without a restart or takeover, the question remains of who is still responsible for the continuity of passports for products already sold. As long as those products are in circulation, the expected availability of the passport continues to apply, regardless of whether the original party still exists.

Where things go wrong in practice

The host is not included in the exit planning. A company arranges for the termination of lease agreements, IT subscriptions and staff, but forgets that somewhere a passport hosting contract is running that is linked to hundreds or thousands of products already sold. If that contract ends without a follow-up agreement, the data carrier disappears while the product is still in the shop or with the customer.

Domain name or subdomain is not renewed. When the QR code on the clothing label points to a subdomain of the company itself rather than to a platform that exists separately from the company, access stops as soon as no one pays for the domain name anymore. See also the page on how the QR code comes on the product for the way that link is usually set up.

It is assumed that data "automatically" moves along in a restart. A restarting party takes over the brand name and inventory, but not automatically the contractual relationship with the party that hosted the passports. Without explicit transfer of that contract — including login details, link with the ERP or inventory system and the key to management — a gap arises between "who should manage the passport" and "who actually has access to it".

Liquidator or administrator has no visibility of the obligation. In the event of insolvency, the insolvency representative focuses primarily on creditors and the estate, not on whether thousands of sold clothing items still have a functioning passport. Without a documented overview of which systems and contracts are involved, this is not a question that would naturally occur to an insolvency representative.

No agreement on what happens to amendments after cessation. If an error in a passport is discovered afterwards — see the page on amending a published passport — the question arises of who is still permitted and able to carry out that amendment when the original creator no longer exists.

What you can record

An overview of all active passports, per product or product line, with the associated hosting party and contract number.
The contractual agreement with the hosting party (such as texpas.eu) on what happens upon cessation, takeover or insolvency of the customer — including whether the host continues availability independently.
A separate section in the takeover documentation or exit plan that specifically addresses product passports, separate from ordinary IT and contract transfer.
Login credentials and management rights for passport management, recorded in a place that a curator, liquidator or successor can also consult.
A list of which products under which unique product identification code have been issued, so that upon transfer it is clear which batches belong to which party.
Documentation of the link to internal systems, so that a succeeding party can see whether the passport can be decoupled from the old ERP system or remains dependent on it.
A note on the domain name or subdomain used for the QR code, and who retains control over it after cessation.

For subscribers of texpas.eu, the hosting agreement itself already provides for part of this continuity, because the service is designed to ensure the passport continues to exist independently of the continued existence of the individual customer. This does not relieve a company of its own responsibility to include this in takeover or exit documentation, but it does limit the risk that a passport simply disappears at the moment the company does.

This is not legal advice. This page provides general information about the regulations that this platform covers. We are not familiar with your situation. If you are in doubt about your own case, consult a lawyer or the competent supervisory authority.

Written with AI based on the sources above, checked by a human on 2026-08-22. Is something wrong? Let us know — corrections are given priority.