The first set of connections begins with electronic invoicing. Transaction data can identify what was sold, while product identification systems can be connected to much more detailed information about a product's composition, origin or environmental characteristics.
From transactions to environmental data
The Digital Product Passport is one of the important connections in this chain. Established by the European framework for certain categories of products, it makes it possible to associate an identifiable product with a structured set of information available in digital form. The exact nature of this data depends on the products and applicable rules, but environmental information is among the intended uses.
From digital identity to payments
A second chain appears on the identity and payment side. European digital wallets are not intended solely to present an identity. Their architecture also provides for the use of electronic credentials, while other European initiatives are exploring detailed electronic receipts linked to transactions and products.
Payments themselves are also evolving. Work surrounding the digital euro notably distinguishes programmable money, which is excluded from the proposed framework, from conditional payments, which can allow a payment to be executed when certain predefined conditions are met. This distinction is essential for understanding what the infrastructure technically enables without attributing functions to it that it does not possess.
Technical possibility, real-world use and legal framework
Taken together, these elements shift the question. It is no longer simply a matter of asking whether invoicing, product, identity and payment systems could theoretically communicate one day. Several connections already exist, are standardized, planned or have been experimented with. The question then becomes how far these connections can be combined and, above all, which uses are actually established.