> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL. > For a complete documentation index, see https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/llms.txt. > For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://tieback.io/docs/_mcp/server. # DPP Foundations > The free six module tieback Academy path that takes you from no prior knowledge of Digital Product Passports to a defensible first readiness position. ## The Path DPP Foundations is the entry path for everyone. It assumes no prior knowledge of ecodesign law, no technical background and no existing compliance programme. It takes about four hours and ten minutes in total, and it is designed to be finished. Foundations is free and always will be. It is a complete product, not a trailer for a paid course. A learner who completes Foundations and stops has got what the path promised. ## What You Will Be Able to Do By the end of the path you should be able to define a Digital Product Passport accurately, decide whether and when your products are likely to be in scope, describe what a passport has to contain, explain how one works in practice, read the regulatory timing correctly, and produce a first readiness position with a sequenced set of actions. ## Your Progress #### Foundations progress ## Modules #### [What a Digital Product Passport Actually Is](/docs/academy/foundations/module-1) The definition the legislation actually uses, the difference between a passport and a QR project, the four layers, and how a scan reaches a record. Framework: TBF-001. #### [Whether It Applies to You](/docs/academy/foundations/module-2) Placing your organisation in the value chain, separating manufacturer, importer and distributor duties, reading scope without guessing, and naming the data you do not hold. Frameworks: TBF-002 and TBF-007. #### [What a Passport Has to Contain](/docs/academy/foundations/module-3) Data categories, public versus restricted access, which attributes you already hold and which have no owner. Frameworks: TBF-003 and TBF-042. **Optional practical tool for Module 3.** The [Passport Data Origin Worksheet](/docs/knowledge-base/templates/passport-data-origin-worksheet) applies TBF-042 to your own products, mapping each item of passport information to its origin, authoritative source and evidence. It is a Knowledge Base template, not a lesson: it is optional, not assessed, not tracked, and not required for module or Foundations completion. #### [How a Passport Works in Practice](/docs/academy/foundations/module-4) Identifiers, carriers, resolution, persistence after the sale, and why a published record should not change silently. Frameworks: TBF-004 and TBF-009. #### [When It Becomes Mandatory, and Why the Detail Is Missing](/docs/academy/foundations/module-5) The framework plus delegated act structure, how a delegated act becomes an obligation, reading timing signals, and what to do while the detail is unwritten. Frameworks: TBF-005, TBF-006 and TBF-008. #### [Capstone: Preparing Your Organisation](/docs/academy/foundations/module-6) Produce a readiness position, find your biggest data gap, sequence your first three actions, and brief a decision maker in five sentences. Frameworks: TBF-011 and TBF-031. All six modules are published and free. The canonical sources behind them are open to everyone in the Knowledge Base, with or without the Academy. ## Prerequisites None. Foundations is the prerequisite for everything else in the Academy. ## Assessment and Completion Each lesson ends with a short knowledge check that is formative: immediate feedback, unlimited attempts, no gate. Each module ends with a ten question assessment at a pass mark of 80 percent, unlimited to retake, with your best score kept. When all six modules are complete the [Foundations completion page](/docs/academy/foundations/completion) confirms what you have covered. That is a course completion acknowledgement, not a professional certification. Progress is saved on this device. It is not tied to an account and it does not follow you to another browser. ## Related Docs * [Module 1: What a Digital Product Passport Actually Is](/docs/academy/foundations/module-1) * [Foundations completion](/docs/academy/foundations/completion) * [tieback Academy](/docs/academy) * [Digital Product Passports](/docs/knowledge-base/digital-product-passports/overview) * [tieback Frameworks](/docs/knowledge-base/frameworks/overview) * [Passport Data Origin Worksheet](/docs/knowledge-base/templates/passport-data-origin-worksheet) > The free six module tieback Academy path that takes you from no prior knowledge of Digital Product Passports to a defensible first readiness position. ## Docs - [Module 1: What a Digital Product Passport Actually Is](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-1.md): The first module of the free tieback Academy DPP Foundations path: the legal definition of a Digital Product Passport, what it is not, the four layers, and how a scan reaches a record. - [Lesson 1: What a Passport Is in Law](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-1/lesson-1.md): Academy Foundations Module 1 Lesson 1: the legal definition of a Digital Product Passport and the three properties that separate it from ordinary product information. - [Lesson 2: What a Passport Is Not](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-1/lesson-2.md): Academy Foundations Module 1 Lesson 2: why a QR code, a product web page and a PDF are not Digital Product Passports, and what a carrier-only programme has actually built. - [Lesson 3: The Four Layers](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-1/lesson-3.md): Academy Foundations Module 1 Lesson 3: TBF-001, the four layers of a Digital Product Passport, who owns each layer, and why programmes that start at the technology layer stall. - [Lesson 4: From Carrier to Record, and What Is Still Undecided](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-1/lesson-4.md): Academy Foundations Module 1 Lesson 4: how a scan resolves into a passport record, and how to separate what is settled in law from what is still awaiting delegated acts. - [Module 1 Assessment](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-1/assessment.md): Academy Foundations Module 1 summative assessment: ten scenario-weighted items covering the definition, the boundaries, the four layers and the settled/unsettled split. - [Module 2: Whether It Applies to You](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-2.md): The second module of the free tieback Academy DPP Foundations path: value chain roles, who carries which legal duty, how to read scope without guessing, and the data you do not hold. - [Lesson 1: Where You Sit in the Value Chain](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-2/lesson-1.md): Academy Foundations Module 2 Lesson 1: the Digital Product Passport Responsibility Model, the six groups it names, and how to place your own organisation among them. - [Lesson 2: Who Carries Which Duty](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-2/lesson-2.md): Academy Foundations Module 2 Lesson 2: how legal responsibility for a Digital Product Passport is allocated between manufacturers, importers, distributors and authorised representatives, and why participation is not the same as accountability. - [Lesson 3: Reading Scope Without Guessing](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-2/lesson-3.md): Academy Foundations Module 2 Lesson 3: the Product Category Rollout Model, how to tell an adopted obligation from a stated priority, and which products are likely to fall into early scope. - [Lesson 4: The Data You Do Not Hold](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-2/lesson-4.md): Academy Foundations Module 2 Lesson 4: naming the attributes your organisation cannot supply itself and locating the party in the value chain who actually holds them. - [Module 2 Assessment](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-2/assessment.md): Academy Foundations Module 2 summative assessment: ten scenario-weighted items covering value chain roles, legal duty allocation, reading scope status and locating data you do not hold. - [Module 3: What a Passport Has to Contain](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-3.md): The third module of the free tieback Academy DPP Foundations path: the categories of passport data, who sees which category, and how to audit what your organisation already holds against what has no owner. - [Lesson 1: The Categories of Passport Data](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-3/lesson-1.md): Academy Foundations Module 3 Lesson 1: the six categories of Digital Product Passport content under the Product Information Readiness Model, and why treating passport data as one list stalls a programme. - [Lesson 2: Who Sees What](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-3/lesson-2.md): Academy Foundations Module 3 Lesson 2: why passport data is access controlled by user group, which audiences see which categories, and how to avoid the two failure modes of publishing too much or too little. - [Lesson 3: What You Already Hold, and What Has No Owner](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-3/lesson-3.md): Academy Foundations Module 3 Lesson 3: the Passport Data Origin Model, how to audit where each passport attribute actually lives, and why an attribute with no named owner is the finding, not a detail. - [Module 3 Assessment](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-3/assessment.md): Academy Foundations Module 3 summative assessment: ten scenario-weighted items covering the categories of passport data, access by audience, and auditing what your organisation holds against what has no owner. - [Module 4: How a Passport Works in Practice](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-4.md): The fourth module of the free tieback Academy DPP Foundations path: the scan path from carrier to record, identifiers versus resolvers, why a passport must persist after the sale, and why a published record should not change silently. - [Lesson 1: The Scan Path End to End](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-4/lesson-1.md): Academy Foundations Module 4 Lesson 1: what actually happens between a scan and a displayed record, and why each hop in that path has an owner. - [Lesson 2: Identifiers and Resolvers](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-4/lesson-2.md): Academy Foundations Module 4 Lesson 2: why the identifier and the resolver are separate things with separate jobs, and what happens when organisations conflate them. - [Lesson 3: Life After the Sale](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-4/lesson-3.md): Academy Foundations Module 4 Lesson 3: why a passport has to keep working for years after the sale, who adds to it, and what that means for how it is designed. - [Lesson 4: Why a Published Record Should Not Change](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-4/lesson-4.md): Academy Foundations Module 4 Lesson 4: what snapshot immutability means in plain terms, and why corrections belong in a new version rather than a silent edit. - [Module 4 Assessment](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-4/assessment.md): Academy Foundations Module 4 summative assessment: ten scenario-weighted items covering the scan path, identifiers and resolvers, post-sale persistence and snapshot immutability. - [Module 5: When It Becomes Mandatory, and Why the Detail Is Missing](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-5.md): Academy Foundations Module 5: the ESPR framework and delegated act split, how a delegated act becomes binding, reading working plan timing correctly, and what to do before the field list exists. - [Lesson 1: Framework Plus Delegated Act](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-5/lesson-1.md): Academy Foundations Module 5 Lesson 1: how ESPR splits into a framework regulation and per-product delegated acts, and why each part fixes a different problem. - [Lesson 2: How a Delegated Act Becomes an Obligation](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-5/lesson-2.md): Academy Foundations Module 5 Lesson 2: the path a delegated act travels from Commission draft to binding law, and where scrutiny and objection can still change it. - [Lesson 3: In Force Is Not the Same as Applicable to You](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-5/lesson-3.md): Academy Foundations Module 5 Lesson 3: how to read a working plan timing signal correctly, and why a regulation being in force differs from it applying to your product. - [Lesson 4: Working Without the Field List](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-5/lesson-4.md): Academy Foundations Module 5 Lesson 4: what work a missing delegated act can invalidate, and what work is safe to do before the field list exists. - [Module 5 Assessment](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-5/assessment.md): Academy Foundations Module 5 summative assessment: ten scenario-weighted items covering the ESPR framework and delegated act split, the delegated act lifecycle, timing signals, and what to do before the field list exists. - [Module 6: Capstone: Preparing Your Organisation](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-6.md): The capstone module of the free tieback Academy DPP Foundations path: producing a first readiness position, sequencing the first three actions, and briefing a decision maker in five sentences. - [Lesson 1: Taking a Readiness Position](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-6/lesson-1.md): Academy Foundations Module 6 Lesson 1: how to state where your organisation actually stands on Digital Product Passport readiness for one product line, and defend the position with evidence rather than optimism. - [Lesson 2: Sequencing the First Three Actions](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-6/lesson-2.md): Academy Foundations Module 6 Lesson 2: turning a readiness position into three ordered first actions, and what to ask suppliers for and when. - [Lesson 3: The Five Sentence Brief](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-6/lesson-3.md): Academy Foundations Module 6 Lesson 3: compressing a readiness position and a sequenced plan into a five sentence brief a decision maker can act on. - [Module 6 Assessment](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/module-6/assessment.md): Academy Foundations Module 6 summative assessment: ten scenario-weighted items covering readiness positions, sequencing, supplier timing and the five sentence brief. - [Foundations: Completion](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations/completion.md): The completion page for the free tieback Academy DPP Foundations path: what the six modules covered, what they deliberately left out, and where to go next.