TracePass
Definition

Source attribution

Source attribution links each filled passport field back to the exact source document and page it came from — a test report, datasheet or declaration. It is the audit-trail backbone that lets a human (or a market-surveillance authority) verify any value without re-reading every file.

A Digital Product Passport carries dozens of regulated fields — recycled content, hazardous-substance flags, carbon footprint. Without source attribution each value is just a claim. With it, every value carries a pointer back to the line in the SDS, the row in the bill of materials, or the page of the EN 71 test report it was read from.

TracePass attaches a source citation to every field its AI fills, so the human approver sees the original document and page next to the proposed value before publishing. That citation persists in the audit trail, so months later anyone can trace a published number to its evidence — which is exactly what an authority asks for under ESPR Article 4 record-keeping duties.

Frequently asked

How is source attribution different from a confidence score?

A confidence score tells you how sure the AI is about a value; source attribution tells you where the value came from. You usually want both: the score triages what to review, the attribution lets you verify it against the original document.

Why does an authority care about source attribution?

Under ESPR the economic operator must be able to substantiate every passport value on request. A field that points back to a named document and page turns a verification request from a file-hunt into a single click.

Related terms

Glossary