Do Austrian Sellers Need a QR Code for the DPP?

In short: yes, in practice. The Digital Product Passport is reached through a data carrier, and a QR code is the typical form of that carrier. The passport comes from the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, which is directly applicable in Austria as it is across the EU.

The QR is the way in

The passport itself is a machine-readable record of information about a product. The data carrier — most commonly a QR code — is how a consumer, repairer, recycler or authority reaches that record by scanning it. So the QR code is not the passport; it is the doorway to it. Where it must appear, such as on the product, packaging or documentation, is set out in each product group’s delegated act.

What Austrian sellers should do

• Assume a QR or similar data carrier will be needed for covered products.
• Plan where it will sit on the product, packaging or listing.
• Gather the supplier data that will sit behind it, and present information to Austrian consumers in German.

The exact carrier and placement rules arrive product group by product group through delegated acts, on indicative timing, and enforcement runs through Austrian market surveillance authorities. Treat this as a qualitative guide and confirm the current position with the relevant Austrian authority before relying on it.

This article is educational, not legal advice.