Glossary · DPP: data, identifiers and standards
Unique product identifier
Also known as: UPI, product identifier, unique operator identifier, unique facility identifier
Under the EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, a unique product identifier is a unique string of characters that identifies a product and enables a web link to its digital product passport. Depending on the delegated act, it identifies a product at model, batch or item level, alongside unique identifiers for operators and facilities.
- EU
- DPP
- Data governance
In one sentence
A unique product identifier is the string that identifies a product at model, batch or item level and links it to its digital product passport.
Example
A tyre maker assigns a batch-level identifier; every tyre from that batch carries a data carrier encoding it, and the identifier resolves to the passport of the batch.
How it applies
- Granularity: The delegated act sets the level. Model level suits products whose data does not vary per unit; item level is needed where each unit has its own history, as in the battery passport.
- Standards: EN 18219:2026 covers unique identifiers; it is one of the harmonized DPP standards. Established identification schemes can be used where they meet its requirements — check the standard rather than assuming a scheme qualifies.
- Persistence: Identifiers must not be reused and must stay resolvable for the life of the passport, even when the company, its domain or its systems change.
- Semantic systems: A resolvable identifier behaves like an IRI in linked data: a stable name that can be dereferenced. Keep the identifier separate from the URL of any one system that happens to store the data.
- Technical documentation: Reference the same identifier in manuals, spare-parts lists and service records so that content and passport data can be matched.
Compared with the USA, Canada and China
The USA uses serialization for specific sectors, such as pharmaceutical package identifiers under the Drug Supply Chain Security Act. China runs a national industrial internet identifier resolution system. Canada has no general product identifier duty.