The most common mistake is that companies choose a software provider based on what is visible on the surface: an attractive QR code, a sleek dashboard, a low price per item. What gets sidelined in the background is the question what the digital product passport is actually about: data that is correct, traceable, and remains accessible for ten years. A provider that only generates the code solves only a small part of the task.
This mistake usually occurs because the passport initially feels like an IT question: a link is needed, a label, a system that displays data. But the regulation is not about the form of the data carrier, which is largely prescribed. It is about the content behind it and about the question whether you can substantiate that content if a supervisor asks about it. A provider that does not include that part delivers a technical product without you knowing whether the foundation underneath is sustainable.
Why this goes wrong
Software providers are often specialized in the technical part: hosting, integrations, the QR code itself. That is useful work, but it is not the same as assembling a passport from data supplied by the manufacturer or importer. If you only look at the technology, you miss questions such as: who supplies the source data, who corrects an error once it appears, and what happens to the data if the provider stops or is taken over in five years' time. The latter is not theoretical: the obligation to keep the passport accessible for ten years runs much longer than the average relationship with a software partner.
A second reason why this goes wrong is that the comparison between providers is often made on price per item, without clarity on what exactly is included in that price. Does it include data maintenance, or only the initial storage? Who updates the passport if a provider supplies a new certificate or if a fibre percentage changes? If that is not laid down, you discover it only when something needs to change, and usually under time pressure.
What this means for your conversation with your provider
The conversation with a software provider thus goes further than technology alone. Useful questions include: how is it demonstrated that data comes from the source text of the regulation or from a harmonised standard, how is a change in data processed without losing the history, and what happens to the passport if the collaboration ends. It is also useful to ask how the provider handles data that is supplied by multiple parties in the chain, because with private label and import, data often comes from different sources.
On how we collect and keep data traceable is explained how such a process looks in practice, including the location of each piece of data in the official text. This is precisely the part that is easily overlooked in a technical discussion about QR codes, while it touches on the core of the obligation.
What you can check yourself before you choose
Before making a choice, it is advisable to have clarity internally about which data you already have and which are still missing, for example from suppliers who have not yet provided anything. This also determines how much work a software supplier can take over for you and how much you must provide yourself. A brief inventory via the quick-scan that shows in a few questions where you stand gives you an initial picture of that, without needing an account right away.
It is also important to know that a business account with a passport provider is linked to the legal entity, with Chamber of Commerce and VAT number, and not to a single contact person. This prevents knowledge about the passport from being lost as soon as someone changes position. In the most frequently asked questions about the textile passport it is explained how this works in practice and what does and does not fall under it.
Finally
The choice of a software supplier is ultimately a choice for ten years of cooperation, not for a single technical delivery. What a supervisory authority precisely expects from the substantiation behind a passport, and how that works out for your situation, is something for which you are best advised to consult a lawyer or the competent supervisory authority. If you would first like to get an idea of what is at stake for your company, then the knowledge bank with topics sorted by situation provides an overview to get started with, together with the free quick-scan.