DoPC and the digital product passport
The two new concepts
Section titled “The two new concepts”The declaration of performance and conformity is the successor to the declaration of performance. The difference is not formal: the manufacturer declares not only what the product can do but also that it conforms to the requirements applying to it.
Digital product passport
Section titled “Digital product passport”A standard, digitally accessible collection of the product’s data. Not simply “the PDF on the internet” but structured data that systems can read.
Why this matters to designers and contractors
Section titled “Why this matters to designers and contractors”The nature of documentation gathering changes
Section titled “The nature of documentation gathering changes”Today assembling a handover package is largely collecting and sorting PDFs. If product data is machine-readable, the list of products installed and the verification belonging to each can be linked — and it can be checked whether anything is missing.
The model and the product meet
Section titled “The model and the product meet”In a BIM model the identifier of the product actually installed can be attached to the structural element. That is the point at which the digital product passport touches daily design practice.
Environmental data becomes available
Section titled “Environmental data becomes available”Systematic publication of life-cycle data will become an input to building-level assessment. Today that is the hardest data to obtain.
What to expect during the transition
Section titled “What to expect during the transition”- Duality. For a while both old and new types of declaration will arrive.
- Differing manufacturer readiness. Large manufacturers will switch first, smaller ones later; that will show in procurement and documentation.
- It needs internal order. Digital data is only worth something if the firm stores it in order somewhere — by project, tied to the place of installation.
What to do already now
Section titled “What to do already now”If you are collecting product verifications on a project now, store them with identifiers: manufacturer, product type code, declaration number, place of installation. That orderliness is what will carry into the new system — an unsorted heap of PDFs will not.
The point
Section titled “The point”The change is not about the form of the paperwork but about product data becoming searchable and checkable. For anyone documenting in order today it will be a gain, not a burden.