5 Compliance Docs Every Manufacturer Must Publish¶
A buyer requests a meeting. They're evaluating your product for a major retail contract. The first 20 minutes go well — your product meets their specs, your pricing is competitive, your delivery timelines are feasible.
Then they ask: "Can you send us your compliance documentation?"
If your answer involves a pause, a forwarded email, or the phrase "I'll get that from our regulatory team" — you have already lost points. Buyers who request compliance documents and receive them instantly, in a verifiable format, move to the top of the evaluation list. Buyers who promise to send PDFs later move to the bottom.
Here are the five compliance documents every manufacturer should have published online — as live, QR-verifiable pages — before their next buyer meeting.
1. CE Declaration of Conformity¶
Who asks for it: Every EU buyer, importer, distributor, and retailer. Customs authorities at every EU border.
What it is: Your formal statement that your product meets all applicable EU health, safety, and environmental directives. It must list the product identification, the manufacturer's name and address, the applicable directives and harmonised standards, and the name of the authorised signatory.
Why buyers want it online: A PDF of a CE DoC is easily forged. A live page with a SHA-256 hashcode is independently verifiable. The buyer scans your QR code and sees the current declaration — without asking you to confirm it's valid.
Publish it with: CE Marking framework on Sustalium. Generator role — structured fields for manufacturer details, applicable directives, harmonised standards, and signatory. Approximately 30 minutes to your first published declaration.
2. REACH Compliance Declaration¶
Who asks for it: EU buyers, especially in electronics, textiles, automotive, and consumer goods. Enterprise procurement teams.
What it is: A declaration that your product complies with the EU REACH Regulation — specifically that it does not contain Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs) above the 0.1% threshold, and that you have fulfilled your registration, notification, and communication obligations.
Why buyers want it online: The REACH Candidate List is updated twice per year. A REACH declaration published as a PDF in January may be non-compliant by July. A live page notifies you when an SVHC is added and allows you to update the declaration once — the buyer always sees the current version.
Publish it with: REACH framework on Sustalium. Verifier role — structured fields for substance data, SVHC screening results, and safety data sheet references.
3. RoHS Compliance Declaration¶
Who asks for it: EU buyers of electrical and electronic equipment. Component suppliers who need to demonstrate RoHS compliance up the supply chain.
What it is: A declaration that your electrical or electronic product complies with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive — limiting lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and four phthalates to below threshold concentrations.
Why buyers want it online: RoHS is frequently combined with REACH and WEEE in buyer requests. Publishing all three on a single Trust Center page means one QR code satisfies three documentation requirements simultaneously.
Publish it with: RoHS framework on Sustalium. Generator role — structured fields for product category, substance declarations, and compliance evidence.
4. WEEE Registration and Compliance¶
Who asks for it: EU buyers, distributors, and retailers of electrical and electronic equipment. National WEEE registries.
What it is: Evidence that you have registered with the appropriate national WEEE authority in each EU Member State where you place products, and that you comply with take-back, recycling, and recovery obligations.
Why buyers want it online: WEEE registration numbers vary by country. A German retailer needs your German WEEE registration number (EAR/Stiftung). A French retailer needs your French registration. A live page lists all registrations in one place, updated as you register in new markets.
Publish it with: WEEE framework on Sustalium. Data Aggregator role — structured fields for national registration numbers, product categories, and take-back commitments.
5. Digital Product Passport (DPP)¶
Who asks for it: EU buyers under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). Retailers preparing for DPP mandates. Enterprise buyers integrating product data into their own sustainability reporting.
What it is: A structured digital record containing product identification, material composition, sustainability metrics, carbon footprint, recycled content, repair and recycling information, and compliance certifications — all accessible via QR code. The EU is phasing in mandatory DPPs starting with batteries (2027), then textiles, electronics, furniture, and other priority categories.
Why buyers want it online: The DPP is inherently a digital document — a QR code on the product that resolves to structured, machine-readable data. Publishing it as a live page through Sustalium satisfies both current voluntary DPP requirements and positions you for the mandatory rollout.
Publish it with: DPP framework on Sustalium. Generator role — structured fields for product identity, material composition, environmental metrics, certifications, and supply chain traceability.
The Pre-Meeting Checklist¶
Before your next buyer meeting, verify:
- CE Declaration of Conformity is published as a live, hashcode-verified page
- REACH SVHC compliance declaration is current (Candidate List checked within the last 6 months)
- RoHS compliance declaration is published for all applicable product categories
- WEEE registration numbers are listed for all relevant EU Member States
- Digital Product Passport is available for products in DPP-priority categories
- All five documents are accessible from a single QR code or URL you can share in the meeting
- Each document carries a SHA-256 hashcode that the buyer can verify independently
One Platform, All Five Documents¶
Sustalium publishes all five documents from the same product dataset. You enter your product data once — manufacturer details, substance declarations, certification references, registration numbers — and publish across every framework you need. Updates to one field propagate across every document. One QR code. Five frameworks. Always current.
€10 per document per month. Volume bundles: 15 documents for €99 (€6.60 each), 50 for €249 (€4.98 each). No setup fees. No annual contracts.
Frequently Asked Questions¶
Do I really need all five documents?¶
It depends on your products and markets. A manufacturer selling electronic products to the EU typically needs CE, REACH, RoHS, and WEEE at minimum. DPP is currently voluntary but becoming mandatory on a sector-by-sector schedule. The principle is: publish what your buyers ask for. If they ask for it and you email a PDF, you're losing to a competitor who published a verifiable page.
Can I publish these without Sustalium?¶
You can publish PDFs on your website. But a PDF has no independent verification mechanism, no audit trail, no version control, and no QR code that links to a multi-view page. Sustalium provides the structured framework, hashcode verification, three audience views, and B2B sharing — each of which would require separate tools and engineering effort to replicate.
How often do I need to update these documents?¶
REACH: at least twice per year (when the Candidate List is updated). Others: when your product changes, your certifications renew, or the underlying regulation is amended. Sustalium notifies you when frameworks you use are updated — you choose when to apply the changes.