NFC Forum launches Proof-of-Concept NFC Digital Product Passport Mobile Reader

4^th December 2024 – NFC Forum, the leading standards body for Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, has launched a Proof-of-Concept Mobile Reader application for Android and iOS that can read on-product NFC Digital Product Passport (NDPP) data. The Proof-of-Concept was one of a wide variety of demonstrations of DPP-enabled products hosted by the Forum at its recent Vision NFC event in Nice, France.

Engineers also presented work-in-progress specifications that will define additional standards to process on-product DPPs; enable offline access to dynamic DPP data stored by the data carrier; provide additional anti-tampering features; and deliver a security mechanism to improve the DPP user experience. This extensive overview presented the industry with tangible proof of how a Digital Product Passport (DPP) ecosystem using NFC Forum technologies as a data carrier could look in-practice, both today and in the years to come.

“With the incoming European Union DPP regulations, there is much discussion about the technologies that can help make the DPP a reality. It is encouraging to see these conversations transition into action, with our recent demos showing how using NFC Forum technologies as a data carrier for the DPP will look and feel in practice, underpinned by NFC Forum standards,” comments Mike McCamon, Executive Director of NFC Forum. “Both NFC Forum technologies and standards have an enormous role to play in supporting the wider circular economy and enabling more sustainable practices. NFC Forum standards will be critical to the technology’s success as a DPP data carrier, ensuring reliability, interoperability, and compatibility across products and services.”

Developed by the NFC Forum, the NDPP Reader application for Android and iOS is an example of how on-device DPP data can be stored on and retrieved from an NFC-enabled product or tag currently available on the market. The NFC Forum defined a flexible architecture that allows a tag to store more than one NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) record. In doing so, this allows DPP data and the standard hyperlink cloud-based online DPP data record to be stored on the device, the latter being more often used to activate consumer engagement applications.

NFC Forum-based tags already in products, which are proven, secure, convenient and trusted, can therefore have additional NDEF records added to them for DPP purposes, without limiting their functionality for other uses. Furthermore, the NFC Forum NDPP Reader application can detect if anyone has tampered with DPP cloud-based data, alerting users to discrepancies in DPP data that signify the original information added by the manufacturer has been altered. The Forum is working to ensure this functionality is available for both Android and iOS versions of the NDPP Reader application, with plans to add a cloud-to-product validation feature in the near future.

The demos were presented during the NFC Forum ‘Simplifying the Digital Product Passport: Vision NFC’ event, hosted in Nice, France in October 2024. They serve as a culmination of a year’s worth of active discussions and work by the NFC Forum, exploring the role of NFC technology in supporting the circular economy as a data carrier for the DPP.

By preparing and engaging with NFC Forum standards, companies can ensure that NFC chips, tags and devices work correctly to store and provide access to DPP data. The NFC Forum welcomes organizations that wish to participate in our DPP initiatives and contribute towards reaching a greener, more circular global economy.