The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade has launched a call for evidence on “digital product records” (DPR), and it closes on 21 September 2026. If you sell physical products — especially into the EU — this is one of those quiet consultations worth five minutes of attention now, because whatever gets built from it will eventually show up as a compliance requirement.

What’s actually being asked

The EU has already introduced the Digital Product Passport, which is starting to require manufacturers to attach a digital record to products covering origin, materials, environmental performance, repairability and recyclability. The UK call for evidence is asking whether Great Britain should build an equivalent domestic framework, and if so, what it should contain and how it should align — or not — with the EU version.

Crucially, this is not yet a law or a mandatory scheme. Nothing changes on 22 September. But the government is explicitly trying to understand three things from businesses: the practical cost of compliance, how ready supply chains actually are, and whether UK firms want alignment with the EU passport (to avoid running two systems) or a lighter domestic-only approach.

Why this is worth responding to, not just watching

Regulation that gets shaped without SME input tends to get shaped around what’s easy for large enterprises with dedicated compliance teams. If you’re a smaller manufacturer, importer or retailer, this consultation is a rare chance to flag the real cost of things like per-SKU digital records before they’re baked into a framework you’ll have to live with.

If you export to the EU, you’re likely already tracking the Digital Product Passport timeline for your sector — this UK consultation is your chance to push for a UK approach that doesn’t duplicate that work.

If you sell only in the UK, this is worth a calendar note rather than urgent action — but it’s the kind of policy that moves from “call for evidence” to “mandatory requirement” faster than most businesses expect once a sector timeline is set.

How this compares to what’s already happening in the EU

The EU’s Digital Product Passport is being phased in sector by sector, starting with categories like batteries and textiles before expanding further. UK businesses that already export into the EU are going to need some form of digital product record whether or not Great Britain introduces its own domestic scheme — so the real question this consultation is asking isn’t “should this exist,” it’s “should the UK build its own separate version, or design something that plugs neatly into the EU system so exporters aren’t maintaining two parallel records for the same product.” Businesses that trade both domestically and into Europe have the strongest incentive to make that case clearly, since a mismatched UK framework could mean double the administrative burden for no extra benefit.

What to do before 21 September

You don’t need a formal policy submission to have a voice here. The call for evidence accepts responses from individual businesses, not just trade bodies, and a short response describing your product range, export markets and current record-keeping systems is enough to be counted. If digital record-keeping and compliance documentation already feels like a headache for your business, firms like Smallprint can help get your underlying legal and product documentation into shape now, so that whatever framework eventually lands, you’re not starting from zero.

The takeaway

This consultation won’t change anything by itself, but it’s the first real signal of where UK product-compliance rules are heading. Read the call for evidence, decide whether it affects your sector, and either respond by 21 September or put a note in your diary to check back when the government publishes its response.