A practical guide to reviewing product documents and certificates: what to check, how automated pre-checks help and where a person has to decide.
A digital product passport is only as reliable as the documents behind it. One outdated certificate or a manual attached to the wrong model undermines the whole product page a customer sees after scanning the QR code. That is why reviewing documents and certificates should not be a one-off folder cleanup, but a standing step before every publication, with clear ownership of who checks what and by when.
The minimum checklist: does the certificate cover the right product or material, who issued it and under which number, from when and until when is it valid, does its status match its dates, and does the same certificate already exist in the system in another version. It is also worth checking that the file is complete and that its name makes it easy to find later. The most common problems are a missing number, mixed-up dates and the same certificate saved twice with small differences.
For technical data sheets, declarations and manuals, the key question is whether the document matches the product. It should reference the same model, SKU, GTIN, batch number or serial number as the record. The document title and type must make clear what it is, and the same document should not be added twice. Separately, decide which documents should be public in the passport and which stay inside the company.
Most of the points above can be checked by rules before a document reaches a person. DPPC warns about missing fields, dates in the wrong order, expired or expiring certificates, duplicates and files whose names do not match the record. When a PDF has a readable text layer, the system also checks whether the document mentions the product and whether it contains a different SKU or GTIN. Documents with warnings go to review flagged as needing attention.
Rules catch inconsistencies, but they cannot judge whether a test was carried out to the right standard, whether a declaration covers every variant or whether a supplier is reliable. That is the job of the person responsible for quality or compliance. This is why every document and certificate in DPPC has a review deadline, and each approval or rejection is recorded together with a note. A product with a rejected document or an expired certificate cannot be published.
Start with the products that need to be published first. Import certificates and documents, go through the warnings from the pre-checks and fix whatever can be fixed right away. Review the remaining documents in the review center, approving those without issues in bulk. Pass any gaps you cannot close internally on to your suppliers. Finally, check the readiness score of each product: it shows what is still blocking publication.
FAQ
Every new or updated certificate should be reviewed before publication, and expiry dates need ongoing monitoring. In DPPC, a certificate is automatically marked as expired once its expiry date passes, and the product loses its readiness for publication.
No. They catch gaps, inconsistencies and mistakes so review goes faster, but the assessment of content and the approval decision always belong to the person in charge.
Usually the person responsible for quality or compliance. In DPPC, that can be a compliance manager or an organization admin, for example, depending on the roles you set up.
Reject it with a note explaining why, or assign it to the right product. A product with a rejected document will not move to publication until the gap is filled.
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