UN Transparency Protocol

UNTP is especially relevant for sectors where companies need to prove the origin, composition, sustainability, conformity or traceability of products. It supports use cases such as Digital Product Passports, supply chain due diligence, circularity claims, responsible sourcing and compliance with emerging regulatory requirements.
UNTP should not be understood as a central platform or database. It is a protocol and interoperability framework that helps different systems, organisations and ecosystems publish, discover, resolve and verify trusted supply chain data.
The formal public review period for UNTP version 0.7.0 closed on 13 July 2026. Version 0.7.0 should be treated as the current stable basis for pre-production pilots, while feedback from the review is being processed towards UNTP 1.0. UNTP 1.0 should not yet be presented as a final published standard.

Why UNTP matters

Many sustainability and traceability claims are difficult to verify. Companies may publish reports, certificates or product data, but this information is often scattered across supply chains, stored in different systems and shared in formats that are hard to compare or verify.
This creates several problems. Buyers and regulators may struggle to assess whether claims are reliable. Suppliers may be asked to provide the same information repeatedly to different customers. Consumers may see sustainability claims without being able to check their origin. And companies that do invest in responsible production may find it hard to prove this in a scalable way.
UNTP addresses this by defining a common framework for interoperable and verifiable data exchange. Instead of requiring all supply chain actors to use the same platform or central database, UNTP supports a decentralised architecture in which data can remain with the relevant parties while still being discoverable and verifiable.

From technical protocol to business case

UNTP is not only developing technical specifications. It also provides practical frameworks that help governments, industries, schemes and registers assess whether implementation is economically and operationally viable.
The UNTP business-case guidance helps organisations identify expected benefits, implementation and operating costs, regulatory drivers, ecosystem dependencies and the risks of not acting. Separate guidance is available for industry, government, and schemes or registers.
The UNTP Impact Assessment Framework complements these business cases by defining how the effects of real implementations can be measured over time. This includes indicators related to trade facilitation, compliance, fraud prevention, supply-chain efficiency and the reuse of trusted data.
For organisations considering a Digital Product Passport or supply-chain transparency initiative, this means that a pilot should not start with technology alone. It should also identify the actors, trust sources, expected data flows, implementation costs and measurable outcomes.
FIDES Labs can support this process by translating the UNTP business-case framework into a concrete ecosystem assessment, credential model and interoperability pilot.

From documents to verifiable supply chain data

Traditional supply chain transparency often depends on static documents: PDFs, audit reports, spreadsheets, certificates or declarations. These documents may be useful for humans, but they are difficult for systems to verify automatically.
UNTP takes a different approach. It uses Verifiable Credentials to make claims machine-readable and cryptographically verifiable. This means that a product claim, conformity statement, facility record or traceability event can be checked for authenticity and integrity without relying only on manual inspection.
This is important because supply chains are complex. A single product may involve many actors, locations, transformations and certifications. To make transparency work at scale, systems need to exchange trusted data in a structured way.
For a broader explanation of how credentials work in digital trust ecosystems, see the FIDES article on Verifiable Credentials and the FIDES topic on Credential Types.

Digital Product Passports

One of the most important UNTP use cases is the Digital Product Passport, or DPP. A Digital Product Passport contains structured information about a product, such as its identity, manufacturer, materials, sustainability claims, circularity information and traceability data.
In UNTP, Digital Product Passports are modelled as W3C Verifiable Credentials. The UNTP specification states that DPPs are issued as W3C Verifiable Credentials and conform to the Verifiable Credentials Data Model 2.0.
This makes the DPP more than a product webpage or database entry. It becomes a signed digital statement that can be verified by others. A verifier can check who issued it, whether it has been altered and how it links to other credentials or claims.

What kind of information can UNTP support?

UNTP is not limited to one type of sustainability claim. It defines a framework for several related data objects and credentials across value chains.
Examples include product information, facility data, traceability events, conformity information, product identifiers, industry body documentation and accreditation information. A credible sustainability claim often depends on multiple pieces of evidence. For example, a recycled content claim may need to be linked to a product identifier, material composition data, a facility record, certification information and traceability events along the supply chain.
This is why UNTP is closely related to credential themes such as supply chain, compliance reporting, trade documents and Digital Product Passports.

Verifiable Credentials and DIDs

UNTP builds on global digital trust standards, including W3C Verifiable Credentials and decentralised identifiers, or DIDs.
A Verifiable Credential is a digital statement that can be cryptographically verified. It can represent information such as product data, conformity claims, accreditation status or facility details. A DID can be used to identify an issuer or other actor and to discover the cryptographic material needed to verify credentials.
This distinction is important. A DID can support technical verification, but business trust also depends on links to authoritative identifiers, registers, accreditation schemes and recognised sources.
For FIDES, this connects directly to the role of Issuers. A credential is only useful if the verifier can understand who issued it, under which authority or scheme, and whether that issuer is trusted for the claim being made.

Discovery and verification

A key design goal of UNTP is that credentials should be discoverable and verifiable without requiring all parties to have a prior relationship. This is especially important in global supply chains, where a downstream buyer, regulator or consumer may need to verify claims from upstream actors they do not directly know.
The UNTP specification describes the need to enable discovery and verification of credentials from product identifiers, so that verifiers do not need a prior relationship with issuers or subjects.
This connects directly to the FIDES perspective. Trust ecosystems do not scale if every verification requires a bespoke integration or bilateral agreement. Discovery, identifiers, registries and verifiable credentials are essential to make trusted data reusable across organisations and sectors.
For more context on the verification side of the ecosystem, see the FIDES article on Relying Parties.

Publication, resolution and durable verification

UNTP differs from many wallet-centric credential use cases. In a typical personal identity flow, a credential is issued to a holder, stored in a wallet and presented to a relying party. In many UNTP scenarios, credentials are more likely to be published, linked to product or facility identifiers, and resolved by downstream actors such as buyers, regulators, auditors or consumers.
This means that a Digital Product Passport or supply chain claim does not necessarily need to be stored in a wallet. A wallet or business wallet can still play a role, for example for organisational identity, signing, issuing or presenting credentials. But the core UNTP pattern is often about making credentials discoverable and resolvable from identifiers, so that verifiers can find and check the relevant evidence when needed.
This also creates important design questions around durable storage and long-term verifiability. Product, sustainability and traceability data may need to remain available and verifiable for many years. Implementers therefore need to think about persistence, archival storage, resolver availability, credential status, key rotation, issuer continuity and what happens when systems, domains or organisations change over time.
For FIDES, this is an important area for interoperability work. A functioning UNTP ecosystem needs more than credential formats. It also needs reliable discovery, durable links, trusted issuers, persistent identifiers and governance models that support long-term verification.

Human-readable and machine-readable

UNTP recognises that supply chains include actors with different levels of digital maturity. Some organisations may be able to process structured data automatically, while others still need human-readable documents or web pages.
For that reason, UNTP supports both human-readable and machine-readable credentials. This helps ensure that actors with lower technical maturity are not blocked from participating.
This is important for adoption. A protocol that only works for highly digitised companies will not scale across complex global value chains. UNTP aims to provide a path where organisations can participate at different maturity levels while still moving towards interoperable trusted data exchange.

Relationship with regulation

UNTP is not itself an EU regulation. It is a public-good interoperability protocol that can support regulatory and market requirements.
Its relevance is increasing because many policy developments depend on better access to credible supply chain data. Examples include Digital Product Passports under the EU sustainable products agenda, sustainability reporting, due diligence requirements, responsible sourcing and sector-specific rules for products such as batteries, textiles, electronics or critical raw materials.
UNTP can help by providing a common way to structure, sign, discover and verify supply chain information. It does not replace regulation or certification schemes, but it can make the underlying data more interoperable and easier to verify.
For the wider legal and trust-services context in Europe, see the FIDES article on eIDAS 2.

Relationship with Digital Product Passports in Europe

The EU is introducing Digital Product Passports as part of its broader circular economy and sustainable products agenda. These passports are intended to make product-related information available across the product lifecycle, including information relevant for repair, reuse, recycling, environmental performance and compliance.
UNTP can be seen as one possible interoperability layer for such product passports. Its Digital Product Passport specification defines reusable components and credential structures that can support product-level claims and link them to other evidence in the value chain.
This is relevant for Europe, but also globally. Supply chains rarely stop at EU borders. A European DPP requirement may depend on data from suppliers, manufacturers, certifiers and logistics partners around the world. A global interoperability protocol can help reduce fragmentation.

Relationship with wallets and credentials

UNTP is not a wallet standard in the same sense as the European Digital Identity Wallet or the European Business Wallet. It is focused on supply chain transparency and product-related data. However, it is closely related to the credential ecosystem because it relies on verifiable, machine-readable and cryptographically protected data.
In practice, wallets can support some UNTP-related processes, especially where organisations need to manage identity, authority, signing keys or credentials. A business wallet could help an organisation issue product passports, manage conformity credentials or present traceability claims to customers and regulators.
However, many UNTP credentials will not primarily be exchanged through a holder-presented wallet flow. They may be published and resolved from product identifiers, facility identifiers or other discovery mechanisms. This allows downstream parties to find and verify the relevant credentials without requiring a direct relationship with the issuer or holder.
This means UNTP is highly relevant for FIDES, but in a slightly different way from person-centric wallet use cases. It shows how verifiable credentials can become infrastructure for trusted data exchange between organisations, products, facilities and supply chains, with strong emphasis on publication, discovery, resolution and long-term verification.
For more context on organisation-centric wallets, see the FIDES article on Business Wallets.

Interoperability and implementation profiles

UNTP provides a shared model for transparency data, but real-world implementation still requires choices about identifiers, credential formats, protocols, trust registries, status mechanisms and presentation flows.
This is where interoperability profiles become important. A profile can describe which standards and options should be used together so that different wallets, issuers, verifiers and registries can work together in practice.
For UNTP-related ecosystems, such profiles may need to describe choices around VCDM 2.0, JSON-LD VC, DIDs, product identifiers, credential status, trust anchors, identity resolvers and discovery mechanisms.
For more context, see the FIDES article on Interop Profiles.

Why this matters for businesses

For businesses, UNTP can help reduce the cost and complexity of sustainability and compliance data exchange. Instead of responding to repeated data requests in different formats, companies can issue, publish or share verifiable credentials that are reusable across customers, regulators and platforms.
This can support stronger claims, better auditability and easier access to markets where due diligence or product transparency is required. It can also help reduce the risk of greenwashing by making claims traceable to their sources and supporting independent verification.
At the same time, UNTP does not remove the need for governance. A verifiable credential can prove who issued a claim and whether it has been changed. It does not automatically prove that the claim is true. Trust still depends on the quality of issuers, accreditation, certification schemes, authentic sources and verification processes.

Why this matters for governments and regulators

For governments and regulators, UNTP can support more scalable supervision and market access. Instead of relying only on manual document checks, regulators can use machine-readable and verifiable data to inspect product claims, conformity information or due diligence evidence.
UNTP may also help reduce fragmentation between national, regional and sector-specific systems. Because it is designed as an open interoperability protocol, it can allow different technology platforms and data systems to participate in the same transparency ecosystem.
This is especially relevant where regulation requires access to upstream data but does not prescribe one central platform. A decentralised, standards-based approach can support transparency while allowing organisations to retain control over their own data.

Limitations and open questions

UNTP is promising, but its impact will depend on adoption and governance. The protocol can define interoperable data structures and verification mechanisms, but ecosystems still need trusted issuers, recognised identifiers, certification schemes, business incentives and implementation support.
There are also practical questions. Which claims should be mandatory in a specific sector? Which identifiers should be used for products, organisations, facilities and locations? Who is allowed to issue which type of credential? How are credentials revoked or updated? How should confidential business information be protected while still enabling meaningful transparency?
Long-term verification is another important design challenge. Sustainability, conformity and product data may need to remain verifiable long after a product has changed hands or after a supplier, issuer, domain or technical system has changed. This makes durable storage, persistent identifiers, resolver reliability and governance over time essential topics for implementation.
These questions cannot be solved by technology alone. They require collaboration between regulators, industry bodies, standards organisations, certifiers, technology providers and supply chain participants.

The role of FIDES

For the FIDES Community, UNTP is an important development because it connects digital trust infrastructure with sustainability, supply chain transparency and product data.
FIDES focuses on interoperability, reusable credentials, discoverability of issuers and credential types, trusted organisational identity and practical adoption. These themes align closely with UNTP. A UNTP-based ecosystem also needs wallets, issuers, verifiers, identifiers, trust registries, credential catalogs, resolvers and testable implementation profiles.
FIDES can contribute by helping make UNTP-related credentials, issuers, relying parties and use cases more discoverable. It can also help connect UNTP with broader wallet and credential developments in Europe, including the European Digital Identity Wallet, the European Business Wallet, Digital Product Passports and organisational trust infrastructure.
A successful UNTP ecosystem will require more than technical specifications. It will require a shared understanding of which data exists, who can issue it, how it can be verified, where it can be resolved, and how it can remain available and trustworthy over time. That is precisely where ecosystem discovery and practical interoperability become essential.

Sources used

This article is based on the UNTP About page, the UNTP specification development page, the UNTP Digital Product Passport specification, the UNTP Verifiable Credentials specification, the UNTP Identity Resolver specification, the W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model 2.0 and the UNCTAD article Unlocking transparency: The promise of the UN Transparency Protocol for global trade.