Article 12 · Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778

Contents

Article 12Semantic repository#

1.The Commission shall establish and maintain a digital product passport semantic repository, which serves as an authoritative and machine-readable source for the data models, semantic definitions and vocabularies applicable to digital product passports across all product groups. The semantic repository shall be developed and maintained in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2024/903 of the European Parliament and of the Council^note.

2.The semantic repository shall contain at least the following:

(a)the semantic meaning of data attributes required within a digital product passport and technical specifications for creating, where relevant, typed and resolvable links between different digital product passports, and links between digital product passport attributes and underlying evidence communicated through the product value chain;

(b)the data models for the different products within the scope of this Regulation and their formats;

(c)the metadata collected regarding the data models for the products;

(d)the semantic meaning of the roles provided for in the applicable delegated acts adopted pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, or by other Union legislation applicable to any product that is required to use a digital product passport;

(e)multilingual labels and definitions for all mandatory data attributes.

3.The metadata as referred to in paragraph 2 point (c) shall be in conformity with the DCAT-AP^note specifications.

4.The Commission shall ensure that, for any data model attributes newly introduced in the semantic repository, the multilingual labels and definitions as referred to in paragraph 2 point (e) are published in the semantic repository.

5.The semantic repository shall include a search service to allow any user to read, search and retrieve semantic definitions and data structures.

6.The Commission shall ensure that the content of the semantic repository is accessible through publicly documented APIs. These APIs shall support common data formats and provide machine-readable semantic assets to facilitate automated use by external systems.

7.Access to and use of the semantic repository and its APIs shall be provided free of charge.

Defined terms · 18

Show every defined term

authentication token
means a token that securely transmits information about successful authentication and is used to prove authenticated sessions or delegated access between applications and the digital product passport information system;
controlled vocabulary
means a structured and authoritative set of standardised terms with defined meanings with a view to ensuring consistent representation of data attributes across digital product passports;
data exchange model
means a structured framework through which data can be exchanged between different systems and platforms;
data model
means a structured framework that organises elements of data, standardises the structure, determines how they relate to one another, and identifies the entities, their attributes and the relationship between those entities;
digital product passport
includes the battery passport established by Article 77 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542.
hash of the version of the digital product passport
means the output generated from the relevant electronic data using a cryptographic algorithm from the relevant version of the digital product passport;
identity verification process
means the process by which a natural person or legal person provides evidence of identity and, where applicable, of establishment;
log system
means an automated system that records and stores information on all operations and interactions carried out in the registry;
login credentials
means a set of unique identifiers, such as a username and password, that enables a user to verify its identity in order to authenticate themselves in the registry;
massive data download
means the retrieval of an exceptionally large or complex dataset - typically ranging from terabytes to petabytes in scale - which exceeds the processing or storage capabilities of conventional tools or a single local machine or interferes with monitoring safeguards.
registry
means the information system established and maintained by the Commission in accordance with Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781;
semantic conformity
means the extent to which the data contained in a digital product passport comply with the applicable semantic specification, in that:
semantic interoperability
means the ability of information systems and the organisations that support them to exchange data in such a way that the meaning of exchanged information is mutually understood and unambiguously interpretable by all parties, regardless of the underlying technology or jurisdiction;
semantic repository
means a collection of data models and semantic definitions that are composed of a structured and logically interrelated set of terms and their meanings specifying the core elements of the digital product passport, the definitions of names or vocabularies, the data elements and the ontology associated with specific data in order to ensure common understanding across all users, and cross-lingual interpretation used for digital product passport validation and for linking the registry data with the digital product passports;
semantic specification
means any artefact published in the semantic repository, including ontologies, data models, controlled vocabularies, and code lists, together with their versioning metadata and provenance information;
value chain actor
means a natural or legal person, other than the economic operator, that performs activities in the value chain of a product requiring a digital product passport and its registration in the registry, such as a repairer, refurbisher, remanufacturer or recycler;
verified economic operator
means an economic operator that has successfully completed the identity verification process in the registry in accordance with Article 4;
verified value chain actor
means a value chain actor that has successfully completed the identity verification process in the registry in accordance with Article 5;