NFC Forum Publishes Candidate Specification For Sustainability Data Management

NFC Forum, the global standards body for Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, has published its NFC Digital Product Passport (NDPP) Candidate Specification. The new proposal enables NFC Forum tags already in use for other applications to also store sustainability data. The ability for this information to coexist with existing NFC applications lays the foundation for an accessible, interoperable sustainability data management ecosystem that can vastly accelerate the advancement of the circular economy.

Unlike other expected data carrier solutions, these Candidate Specifications allow static and dynamic data to be hosted and accessed offline using non-volatile memory stored on the product itself.

Led by its Board members, including representatives from Apple, Google, Huawei, Identiv, Infineon, NXP, Sony, and ST Microelectronics, the NFC Forum and its community, are working to help product and component manufacturers meet impending global regulatory requirements for green manufacturing began in 2023.

The new NFC Forum Standard defines a flexible, data agnostic framework to allow a single NFC tag embedded in a product to store and transmit both standard and extended DPP data using common NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) records. As being discussed by ecosystem stakeholders and regulators, the overall Digital Product Passport architecture is expected to include both cloud-based systems for online data storage and methodologies to connect products to these systems which are known in the industry as DPP Data Carriers. These new standards from the Forum extend the capability of using NFC Forum technologies as data carriers.

Unlike other expected data carrier solutions, these Candidate Specifications allow static and dynamic data to be hosted and accessed offline using non-volatile memory stored on the product itself. Other unique advantages for using NFC Forum technology as a data carrier include, consumers ownership and familiarity NFC-capable handsets for other use cases like payment and access control, product design flexibility, higher durability, and the ability to be read in harsh environments. Additionally, and most critically, by embedding DPP data directly into products, manufactures can ensure the data is available for the life of the product while also providing additional anti-tampering capabilities.