Thomas Roedding in Tagesspiegel Background: Digital Product Passport as a Chance to Cut Bureaucracy
- Lioba Galliet
- Sep 3
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 16
Another Form? More Bureaucracy? That’s exactly the concern that has followed the Digital Product Passport (DPP) since it was first announced.
But in his latest contribution to Tagesspiegel Background, Thomas shows why the opposite may be true: The DPP has the potential to simplify processes, and cut through bureaucracy.
Digital Product Passport & Reducing Bureaucracy: From Regulation to Digital Opportunity
With the new Ecodesign Regulation, the Digital Product Passport is becoming mandatory across Europe.That may sound like more rules — but in reality, it opens the door to something else:Digital processes instead of paperwork.
Spreadsheets are replaced by standardized data.Machines now read what people used to manually document.And instead of isolated forms, a continuous system takes over — one that actively reduces bureaucratic effort.
Cutting bureaucracy doesn’t mean fewer rules — it means better systems.
Thomas Rödding in Tagesspiegel Background, September 3, 2025
And what can a better system achieve?The DPP transforms static forms into a digital résumé for every product.
Why Standards Create Certainty
For the Digital Product Passport to truly work, it needs clear, consistent standards. These norms are developed at the European level, through formal procedures, step by step, with the goal of creating uniform rules across the market.
For companies, that’s critical. Without shared standards, there’s no planning certainty.
The DPP shows just how vital standardization is:It ensures that data is comparable, systems are interoperable, and isolated pilots become part of a scalable, integrated ecosystem, not just a patchwork of temporary solutions.
What You'll Take Away
How information flows can become machine-readable
How true bureaucracy reduction works — by automating what used to be manual
In short: Digital Product Passport = Less bureaucracy, more intelligence
From Obligation to Opportunity
The DPP isn’t just another compliance tool. It shows how regulations can be implemented more intelligently, less burden, more leverage. For transparency. For automation. For new freedom to innovate.
Cutting bureaucracy won’t come from fewer rules but from smarter systems. The DPP is the first proof point. And maybe the beginning of a new, digital public sector culture.
Curious to Learn More?
You’ll find the full article in the latest edition of Tagesspiegel Background (in German), a clear signal that the Digital Product Passport has entered public discourse.
