EU Battery Regulation: Passport, Recycled Content, and Due Diligence

The EU Battery Regulation, formally Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, governs how every battery sold in the European Union is designed, made, labeled, used, and recycled.¹ It replaced the 2006 Battery Directive with a life-cycle framework that applies directly in every member state without national transposition, and its obligations phase in between 2024 and 2036. If you manufacture, import, distribute, or sell batteries into the EU—including online from outside the bloc—the rules reach you.

Which Batteries and Which Businesses Are Covered

The regulation sorts batteries into five categories, and the category determines which rules apply and when. Portable batteries are sealed cells of 5 kg or less that are not designed for industrial use, such as AA cells, phone batteries, and power-tool packs. Starting, lighting, and ignition (SLI) batteries are the lead-acid or lithium units that crank engines and run vehicle electrical systems. Light means of transport (LMT) batteries, a new category, propel e-bikes, e-scooters, and similar personal vehicles. Electric vehicle (EV) batteries are the large traction packs in electric cars, buses, and trucks. Industrial batteries cover anything designed for industrial use, plus any battery over 5 kg that does not fit the other groups, including stationary energy storage and flow batteries.² The rules apply whether a battery is sold on its own or built into an appliance or vehicle.

The regulation uses the broad term “economic operators” for its addressees: manufacturers, importers, distributors, authorized representatives, and fulfillment service providers. Non-EU manufacturers feel the reach most acutely. Compliance obligations sit formally on the EU importer, but data demands flow upstream: carbon footprint declarations, recycled content verification, due diligence audits, and battery passport entries all require the manufacturer’s cooperation. An importer that cannot get the data cannot bring the battery to market. Every compliant battery must carry a CE marking and be accompanied by an EU declaration of conformity.

Compliance Timeline

The regulation does not switch on all at once. The deadline that matters to you depends on your battery type and the specific requirement.

February 2024: Core provisions of the regulation became enforceable.
August 2024: Safety requirements for stationary energy storage systems took effect, along with performance and durability standards for rechargeable industrial batteries above 2 kWh, LMT batteries, and EV batteries.
February 2025: Carbon footprint declarations became mandatory for EV batteries. Supply chain due diligence obligations also began applying.
August 2025: Waste battery management obligations took effect.
February 2026: Carbon footprint declarations required for rechargeable industrial batteries.
August 2026: Standardized labeling requirements apply to all batteries.
February 2027: Digital battery passports launch for EV, industrial (above 2 kWh), and LMT batteries. Battery removability and replaceability requirements for portable and LMT batteries also apply from this date.
August 2028: First-phase recycled content requirements begin for certain battery types. Portable batteries of general use must meet electrochemical performance and durability standards.
2031: Higher material recovery targets and the first full set of minimum recycled content thresholds take effect.
2036: Recycled content thresholds increase again to their final levels.

The staggered rollout gives producers time to redesign products and restructure supply chains, but the window narrows quickly for EV and large industrial battery producers, whose heaviest obligations are already live.

Carbon Footprint Declarations

Manufacturers of EV and rechargeable industrial batteries must publish a carbon footprint declaration quantifying greenhouse gas emissions across the battery’s entire life cycle. EV batteries were first, from February 2025, with industrial batteries following in February 2026.³ LMT batteries and industrial batteries with external storage follow later.

The declarations are not merely informational. The regulation introduces carbon footprint performance classes that rank batteries against each other and will eventually impose maximum carbon thresholds. Once a threshold takes effect, a battery that exceeds it cannot be sold in the EU at all.⁴

Recycled Content Minimums

New industrial batteries above 2 kWh, EV batteries, and SLI batteries must contain a minimum share of recovered materials. The requirements roll out in two phases.

The first phase applies through conformity procedures from August 2028 and fully by 2031. Lead starts at 85%, reflecting the mature lead-acid recycling industry. Lithium and nickel each start at 6%.¹ In 2036, the thresholds step up: lithium to 12%, nickel to 15%, and cobalt to 12%.⁵

Labeling and the Digital Battery Passport

From August 2026, every battery sold in the EU must carry standardized labels with general product information. Rechargeable portable batteries, LMT batteries, and SLI batteries must display capacity. Non-rechargeable portable batteries need a label showing minimum average duration and the words “non-rechargeable.”⁶

From February 2027, every battery must carry a QR code. For most batteries, that code links to basic compliance data. For LMT batteries, industrial batteries above 2 kWh, and EV batteries, it opens a full digital battery passport.⁶ The passport stores the battery’s chemistry, manufacturing details, carbon footprint data, due diligence results, recycled content shares, dismantling instructions, and live performance data such as state of health and remaining capacity. Recyclers get the specifications they need for safe processing, and second-life operators get the data to assess whether a retired pack can serve another purpose.

Supply Chain Due Diligence

Chapter VII requires companies placing batteries on the EU market to trace and audit sourcing of four critical raw materials: cobalt, natural graphite, lithium, and nickel. These minerals are often extracted in regions with documented risks of human rights abuses, child labor, and environmental harm.⁷

Companies must adopt a formal due diligence policy, share it with suppliers and the public, build management systems with top-level oversight, and run a chain-of-custody system that tracks materials upstream. A grievance mechanism and an early-warning system for emerging risks are also required, and a notified body must verify the program through third-party audits.⁸

The published regulation exempts companies with net annual turnover below €40 million, provided they are not part of a larger group above that threshold. The EU’s Omnibus Simplification proposals have floated raising the threshold to €150 million, which would exempt significantly more companies. Due diligence obligations do not apply retroactively to batteries already placed on the market before repurposing or remanufacturing; the original due diligence is treated as sufficient.⁹

Removable and Replaceable Batteries

From February 18, 2027, consumer electronics must be designed so the portable battery inside can be removed and replaced by the end user at any point during the product’s life. “Readily removable” means using ordinary commercially available tools, not proprietary screwdrivers or heat guns.¹⁰ If specialized tools are needed, the manufacturer must include them free of charge. LMT batteries follow the same date but a different standard: they must be replaceable by an independent professional given the higher voltages and complexity.

Products designed for regular exposure to splashing water, water streams, or full immersion can qualify for a partial exemption. Electric shavers, hair clippers, and electric toothbrushes fall in this group; they don’t need end-user removability but must still be designed so an independent professional can replace the battery. A waterproof IP rating alone is not enough. The technical documentation must show that end-user removability would compromise safety and that no alternative design exists without severely affecting performance or health. Manufacturers must also provide clear replacement instructions.

Collection, Recycling, and Producer Responsibility

Producers finance and organize the separate collection of waste batteries in every member state. Collection rate targets for portable batteries reach 63% by the end of 2027 and 73% by the end of 2030. LMT batteries have their own targets: 51% by the end of 2028 and 61% by the end of 2031.¹ For SLI, industrial, and EV batteries, producers must accept and take back all waste batteries from end users free of charge. Retailers must take back waste batteries with no purchase requirement, at or immediately next to the store for portable batteries and in the vicinity for larger types.

On the back end, recyclers face binding material recovery targets. By December 31, 2027, at least 90% of the cobalt, copper, lead, and nickel in waste batteries must be recovered, plus at least 50% of the lithium. By December 31, 2031, those targets rise to 95% for cobalt, copper, lead, and nickel, and 80% for lithium.¹¹ Collected waste batteries cannot be landfilled or incinerated for energy recovery.

Any manufacturer, importer, or distributor that places batteries on the EU market under its own name is a “producer,” as is any online seller shipping directly to EU consumers from outside the bloc.¹ Producers must set up their own take-back infrastructure or join a producer responsibility organization, finance collection through recycling, and register in a national producer registry in each country of sale. Non-EU online sellers without a physical establishment in a member state must appoint an authorized representative. Reporting to national authorities covers volumes sold, volumes collected, collection rates, and quantities sent to permitted treatment and recycling facilities.

Enforcement and Market Access

National market surveillance authorities enforce the regulation. They can inspect, suspend non-compliant batteries from the market, order recalls, and require withdrawals. Member states set penalties that must be “effective, proportionate, and dissuasive,” so fine amounts vary by country. The sharper consequence is market access itself. A battery without a valid CE marking, a complete carbon footprint declaration, or an adequate digital passport cannot legally enter the EU market at all, and for manufacturers whose European sales are significant, exclusion outweighs any fine.

1
European Union. Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 of the European Parliament and of the Council
2
TÜV Rheinland. EU New Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 – Section: Product Categories
3
TÜV Rheinland. EU New Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542
4
European Commission. Compliance with the EU’s Carbon Footprint Requirements
5
International Trade Administration. EU Batteries Regulation 2023
6
openlaws. Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 – Section: CHAPTER III – Labelling, marking and information requirements
7
European Union. Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 – Chapter VII
8
European Union. Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 – Chapter VII, Articles 48-52
9
European Union. Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 – Article 47
10
European Commission. Guidelines for Battery Regulation Art.11 – Section: Article 11, Paragraph 1
11
European Commission. New Rules to Boost Recycling Efficiency from Waste Batteries