Every term used across ActivateDigital Knowledge, defined once and linked to the canonical page that owns it. Digital Product Passport, ESPR, Registry, standards, identity, data-carrier and freshness terminology.
Every term used across ActivateDigital Knowledge, defined once, with the canonical page that owns each one. A reference to look a term up in, not an article to read through. It is deliberately one page, not 83 thin pages. Definitions here are short. The linked canonical Knowledge page owns the deeper explanation, examples and edge cases. Where the law, standards or source version changes the meaning, the glossary entry should move with that source.
A chain-of-custody model in which a specified characteristic or benefit can be accounted for and transferred through a governed claim system separately from the physical flow of the material or product. It does not establish that the claimed physical material travelled into a particular item.
Source family: EU product law Source status: definition withheld, primary source not yet confirmed
ActivateDigital has not yet confirmed a primary source for this term, so no definition is published for it here. This entry will carry one when the source is confirmed.
The rules, records and controls used to connect a specified characteristic or claim about inputs to outputs as materials or products move, mix or transform through a supply chain. A chain-of-custody system can support a claim but does not, by existing, prove the underlying characteristic.
Context: Chain of custody models differ by scheme, and the model decides what a claim can say.
Common confusion: Treating a mass-balance claim as physical traceability.
ActivateDigital has not yet confirmed a primary source for this term, so no definition is published for it here. This entry will carry one when the source is confirmed.
Source family: EU product law Source status: definition withheld, primary source not yet confirmed
ActivateDigital has not yet confirmed a primary source for this term, so no definition is published for it here. This entry will carry one when the source is confirmed.
The ability for evidence to be reused safely by another organisation because the supported fact travels with enough context to understand its subject, scope, source, version or date and binding identifiers.
GDPR
Also used as: General Data Protection Regulation Source family: EU law
The EU regulation governing personal data, which applies wherever passport or scan data identifies a person.
Context: Product data is not personal data, but repair records, ownership and scan logs can be.
Common confusion: Assuming a product passport is outside data protection law.
Also used as: European harmonised standard Source family: EU standardisation
A European standard whose reference can be published in the Official Journal for the relevant EU legislation, potentially supporting presumption of conformity for covered requirements.
Context: Publication by CEN/CENELEC and OJ citation are distinct events.
Common confusion: Calling every EN standard "harmonised" before OJ citation.
A chain-of-custody model that accounts for specified characteristics across inputs and outputs within defined system boundaries and permits attribution according to the applicable rules. The allocation does not by itself prove atom-level content in a particular downstream item.
Also used as: primary authority; official source Source family: ActivateDigital editorial governance
The strongest direct legal, official, standards-body or authoritative system source supporting the page's central current claim, labelled by source layer.
Context: "Primary" does not mean every source has equal legal status.
Common confusion: Calling industry guidance a legal authority.
The recorded origin and history of a defined product, material, fact or evidence object. Provenance is about where the subject came from and what history is attached to it; it is not automatically a complete event-by-event trace.
QR code
Also used as: 2D barcode Source family: Implementation technology
A two-dimensional barcode that can be used as a DPP data carrier where the applicable rules allow or require it.
Context: QR-specific print/size rules are not automatically universal ESPR rules.
Common confusion: Treating vendor/GS1 print guidance as EU law.
A structured view of the organisations, sites, roles and flows that make up a supply chain. It shows who and what is connected without necessarily establishing the history of a particular product or lot.
The ability to follow an identified product, material or other defined object through relevant stages or events using linked records. The required depth and granularity depend on the question being answered or the applicable rule.
Context: Traceability is about following the object. Transparency is about publishing what you know.
Common confusion: Using traceability and transparency as the same word.
The ability to access relevant information about products, materials, organisations, sites or events within a defined part of the supply chain. Visibility can be partial and does not by itself prove provenance, traceability or a product claim.
WEEE
Also used as: Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive Source family: EU law
The EU directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment, with national registration and reporting duties for producers.
Context: WEEE registration is national, so the obligation sits in each member state.
Common confusion: Assuming an EU-level WEEE registration exists.
