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Policy

Digitalisation

Digitalisation is reshaping how pumps are designed, selected, operated and recycled. For manufacturers, the change is no longer a question of adopting new tools: it is becoming a regulatory requirement, with product data now expected to follow the equipment throughout its entire life. Europump works to ensure that these requirements are technically workable — and that they remain proportionate for the small and medium-sized companies that make up much of our industry.

Digital Product Passport

Under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781), products placed on the European market will have to carry a Digital Product Passport: a structured, machine-readable record of the information needed to repair, maintain, resell and eventually recycle them. Pumps are among the product groups identified as a priority, with sector-specific rules expected to follow in the coming years.

The architecture being developed at European level is decentralised: product data stays with the manufacturer and is made accessible through the passport, rather than being copied into a central database. The manufacturer placing the product on the market carries the legal responsibility for the passport, its data carrier and its availability over time.

Europump's position is that implementation should be staged — a workable minimum first, with more advanced identity and access management introduced later. This reflects a concern we hear consistently from our members: a passport specification that arrives complete and all at once would place a disproportionate burden on smaller manufacturers, without adding proportionate value for users. We share this position with Orgalim, the European engineering industries association.

Data exchange and standards

A passport is only as useful as the data model behind it. Rather than invent a new format, Europump promotes the reuse of standards the industry has already built:

  • Asset Administration Shell (AAS) — the pivot standard for digital product representation, and the structure on which passport content can be organised.
  • OPC UA 40223 — the companion specification for pumps, vacuum pumps and compressors, used for connectivity and monitoring.
  • ECLASS — product classification for catalogues and ERP systems.
  • IFC / BIM — for pumps specified and documented as part of a building or plant.

Together these cover the product life cycle from design and procurement through operation to end of life. Europump contributes to the European standardisation work on the Digital Product Passport, and works with its members and with VDMA on how it applies specifically to pumps.

Artificial intelligence

Condition monitoring has been available for years; what is changing is what can be done with the resulting data. The industry is moving from data ("this pump is failing"), to prediction ("it will fail in the coming weeks"), to actionable knowledge ("here is why, which component to change, and when"). That last step is where value is created for pump users — and where reliable, well-structured product data becomes a prerequisite rather than a by-product.

Europump follows the European regulatory framework for artificial intelligence as it applies to industrial products, and keeps its members informed of the obligations likely to affect them.

Cyber security

Connected pumps and monitoring systems bring pump manufacturers within the scope of European cyber security legislation, in particular as it applies to products with digital elements. For many pump manufacturers this is a new area of compliance, distinct from the machinery and ecodesign requirements they already know. Europump monitors these developments and works to ensure the obligations are intelligible and applicable for equipment manufacturers.

Members can follow this work through the relevant Europump Commissions and Working Groups. For further information, contact the Europump Secretariat.