New rules for your product data start this December

The way you receive and share product data is changing. The industry standard for product information, ETIM, gets a big update on 1 December 2026. At the same time, the European Union is building a digital passport system for products. If your computer systems are not ready, your customers cannot find or trust your product data. Here is what to check now.

The industry’s primary data standard is undergoing a major upgrade. ETIM International is scheduled to publish the ETIM 11.0 database schema on 1 December 2026 [1]. Ahead of this final release, a beta version of ETIM 11 is expected to be made available in November 2026 once all outstanding change requests are processed [1].

This transition requires significant administrative work. For Dutch participants, Ketenstandaard set a deadline of Friday, 1 May 2026, to submit change requests for ETIM 11.0 [1]. This deadline applied to participants in the Netherlands, not globally [1].

ETIM International reports nearly 3,000 requests for change (RFCs) for ETIM 10, with over 800 submitted in the final month before the deadline [2].

When ETIM 11.0 goes live on 1 December 2026, thousands of product properties, classes, and values will be updated [1]. If your e-commerce platform or ERP system relies on outdated ETIM 10.0 classifications, your search filters will break, and your customers will struggle to find the right materials.

The challenge is not just the data itself, but how that data is packaged and sent. As ETIM schemas update, the software formats used to exchange this data are also transitioning. Compano and other software vendors are moving from the older BMEcat 2005 format toward ETIM xChange, which is the designated successor [4].

However, software limitations create immediate operational friction. For example, Compano Online Software (COS) version L07 supports ETIM 10.0 and ETIM xChange, but it cannot deliver multiple ETIM versions in a single file [4].

This limitation means merchants need to manage data exports carefully during version transitions [4]. If you are dealing with some suppliers who have upgraded to ETIM 10.0 and others who are still on older versions, your systems must handle these files separately.

In addition, certificate management is becoming increasingly complex. In COS version L07, ETIM xChange certificate types are mapped to existing DICO or BMEcat types where possible [4]. However, any unmapped certificate types default to a value of “none” in the export file unless they are manually mapped to “ATX004 Declaration (other)” [4]. If your team does not perform this manual mapping, certificates can drop out of the export file, leaving customers without the documentation they need.

The regulatory horizon reaches further than the industry standard. On 20 July 2026, the European Commission launched the Digital Product Passport (DPP) Registry along with an official testing environment [3]. This registry was established under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 [3]. It is designed to support several product groups, including textiles, steel and aluminium, tyres, furniture, ICT products, and energy-related products [3]. It also covers other Union legislation requiring DPP registration, such as certain large batteries, construction products, toys, detergents, and end-user surfactants [3]. The current testing phase is intended to facilitate a smooth rollout before the first official implementation deadline on 18 February 2027, which applies to certain types of large batteries [3].

For merchants, this means the data you receive from manufacturers is no longer just a marketing tool. It is becoming a legal requirement for market access. Businesses placing covered products on the EU market will have to register each digital product passport in the Registry [3]. The testing environment is open now, meaning your IT departments should already be verifying how your Product Information Management (PIM) systems connect to the European Commission’s database.

Consider the scenario where a contractor asks for the environmental declaration of a steel beam, and your system shows “none” because of an export error. The contractor cannot complete their digital building logbook, the project is delayed, and your relationship is damaged.

Product data is shifting from a commercial extra to a compliance requirement. The parallel timelines of the ETIM 11.0 release on 1 December 2026 [1] and the European Commission’s DPP Registry testing phase launched on 20 July 2026 [3] show that commercial standards and European laws are converging.

When the ETIM 11.0 release is published on 1 December 2026, it will represent years of industry consensus and thousands of technical adjustments [1]. Merchants who fail to update their databases will find themselves speaking a different language than their suppliers and customers. Your PIM and ERP systems must be the bridge between these two worlds.

To prevent data gaps from disrupting your sales, your commercial and technical teams must coordinate their efforts immediately.

The transition to structured digital data carries clear operational risks, but it also offers a significant commercial advantage. Merchants who can provide complete, verified ETIM 11.0 data and digital product passports will become the preferred partners for major contractors. Those who rely on manual workarounds and outdated formats will find it increasingly hard to serve large contractors.

[1] ketenstandaard.nl — https://ketenstandaard.nl/nieuws/etim-11-0-komt-eraan-tijd-om-voor-te-sorteren/ [2] etim-international.com — https://www.etim-international.com/update-on-the-etim-10-0-release/ [3] single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu — https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/news/digital-product-passport-registry-now-live-2026-07-20_en [4] help.compano.nl — https://help.compano.nl/pdf/Delta_L06_L07_MDM_EN.pdf