At the heart of the European strategies for a more circular, sustainable, and transparent economy lies the Digital Product Passport (DPP), representing a groundbreaking shift. This digital passport will be mandatory for all critical materials — including steel — and will contain structured data on the product’s lifecycle: production, environmental impact, technical characteristics, recycling, and disposal.
Thanks to Need Steel’s AFP®, steel companies are already prepared: our digital platform is designed to integrate seamlessly with European and national DPP infrastructures, simplifying regulatory compliance and reducing compliance costs.
Steel traceability and DPP compliance with blockchain technology
AFP® enables the digital certification of steel batches within a secure and traceable system based on a permissionless blockchain. Each quality certificate is digitally sealed, tracked, and linked to technical and environmental metadata, ready to be exported in the formats required by the Digital Product Passport.
All data — including fragmentation records and production information — are already managed automatically, with no need for manual reconciliations. This means that every steel batch can be immediately compliant with DPP requirements from day one.
AFP®: the solution already ready for the requirements of the Digital Product Passport
Thanks to its collaboration with UNI and ongoing dialogue with European institutions, AFP® is positioning itself as a technical reference point for the definition of DPP standards. Our APIs and data formats are being aligned with the technical specifications of European pilot projects, thus providing steel mills, service centers, and distributors with a tool ready for DPP adoption and participation in EU tenders and incentive programs.
Regulatory compliance and competitive advantage for the steel industry
Choosing AFP® means turning a legal obligation into a tangible competitive advantage. The platform ensures:
- Complete traceability of steel
- Immediate compliance with the Digital Product Passport
- Adaptation on european systems
- Support for regulations on circular economy and sustainability
- Protection from sanctions and delays in the adaptation to norms
In a rapidly evolving European regulatory landscape, AFP® by Need Steel offers steel companies an advanced technological tool to always stay compliant, improve operational efficiency, and transparently demonstrate the complete history of every ton of steel produced and handled.
