> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://tieback.io/docs/academy/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://tieback.io/docs/_mcp/server.

# tieback Academy

> Free, structured learning on Digital Product Passports. Six Foundations modules, about two hours, no prior DPP expertise required, built on the open tieback Knowledge Base.

#### Understand Digital Product Passports.

## The Six Module Foundations Journey

Foundations is one path, taken in order. Each module builds on the one before it, ends with a short
assessment, and leaves you with something you can use at work rather than a page of notes.

#### Ready to begin?

## What You Will Be Able to Do

Foundations is written around what you can do afterwards, not around what you have read.

## Who It Is For

Foundations assumes no ecodesign law background and no technical background. It is written for the
people who get handed this problem, whatever the size of the organisation.

## Learn, Apply, Check Understanding

Every lesson follows the same shape, so you always know where you are.

## Academy and Knowledge

Knowledge is where you look something up. Academy is where you learn the subject systematically.

| Layer                                  | Use it when                                                        | Cost                |
| -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------- |
| [Knowledge Base](/docs/knowledge-base) | You need the fact, the citation, the date or the definition        | Free forever        |
| **Academy**                            | You need to learn the subject in order and prove you understood it | Foundations is free |

The division is permanent. No fact is ever moved behind the Academy. Every lesson sends you to the
canonical article for the authoritative text, and that article stays open to everyone with no
account. If a lesson and an article ever disagree, the article is correct and the lesson is a
defect.

Useful entry points into the reference layer: the
[Knowledge Base](/docs/knowledge-base), the
[Glossary](/docs/knowledge-base/glossary/overview) for any term you meet in a lesson, and
[tieback Frameworks](/docs/knowledge-base/frameworks/overview) for the named models the lessons
teach you to apply.

## Completion

When all six modules are complete, the
[Foundations completion page](/docs/academy/foundations/completion) confirms what you have covered
and gives you a tieback Academy Foundations completion acknowledgement.

That acknowledgement records course completion. It is training, not an accreditation. It is not
recognised, endorsed or issued by the European Union or any regulatory authority, and it does not
certify products, conformity or compliance.

Progress and knowledge check scores are stored in your own browser. There is no account and no sign
in, which also means progress does not follow you to another device and clearing site data clears
it. Accounts and portable progress arrive with the wider Academy release.

## What Comes After Foundations

Five further paths are specified and will follow Foundations: Implementation Practitioner, Data and
Architecture, Compliance and Regulation, Standards and Interoperability, and Governance and
Operations, plus sector add-ons for batteries, construction products, textiles and electronics.
None of them is open yet, and none of them will ever paywall a fact.

#### Start Foundations, free

## Related Docs

* [DPP Foundations path](/docs/academy/foundations)
* [Module 1: What a Digital Product Passport Actually Is](/docs/academy/foundations/module-1)
* [Foundations completion](/docs/academy/foundations/completion)
* [Knowledge Base](/docs/knowledge-base)
* [Getting Started with tieback Knowledge](/docs/knowledge-base/getting-started/overview)
* [Glossary](/docs/knowledge-base/glossary/overview)
* [tieback platform and product site](https://tieback.io)

> Free, structured learning on Digital Product Passports. Six Foundations modules, about two hours, no prior DPP expertise required, built on the open tieback Knowledge Base.

## Docs

- [DPP Foundations](https://tieback.io/docs/academy/foundations.md): The free six module tieback Academy path that takes you from no prior knowledge of Digital Product Passports to a defensible first readiness position.
- [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.