Regulations •

EU Battery Regulation 2023/1542: Obligations, Deadlines and Current Status

The EU Battery Regulation has applied since 18 February 2024. Which obligations actually bite today, why the labelling duty is not in force despite the 18 August 2026 date, how due diligence moved to 2027, and when the battery passport arrives - status as of September 2026.

Author: myDPP Team

EU Battery Regulation 2023/1542: Obligations, Deadlines and Current Status

Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 on batteries and waste batteries is the first piece of EU product law to make a digital product passport mandatory - and the most frequently misread. It has applied since 18 February 2024, runs to 96 articles and covers the whole life cycle: substance restrictions, carbon footprint, recycled content, performance and durability, labelling, conformity assessment, supply chain due diligence, collection, recycling and, from February 2027, the battery passport.

Reading the 2024 application date as “everything is live” leads straight into a planning error. The regulation ties several core obligations not to a fixed date but to the later of two events: a calendar date, or a period running from the entry into force of a Commission act. And the Commission is behind - by more than a year on the labelling act alone. This article sets out the position as of 4 September 2026: what binds today, what shifts automatically, what actually changed in 2025 and 2026, and which work is unaffected either way - the same data work that underpins any digital product passport.

Key takeaways

  • The Battery Regulation has applied since 18 February 2024 (Article 96). Three exceptions sit in the text itself: Article 11 (removability) from 18 February 2027, Article 17 and Chapter VI (conformity assessment, notified bodies) from 18 August 2024, and Chapter VIII (waste management) from 18 August 2025.
  • Due diligence moved from 2025 to 18 August 2027. Regulation (EU) 2025/1561 of 18 July 2025 replaced Article 48(1) - two extra years for policies, risk management and the independent third-party verification by a notified body.
  • The labelling duties in Article 13(1) to (3) are still not in force, despite the 18 August 2026 date. They start 18 months after the implementing act under Article 13(10) enters into force - and that act was due on 18 August 2025 and has still not appeared.
  • What does bind on labelling: the separate collection symbol under Article 13(4) has applied unconditionally since 18 August 2025 - at least 3 % of the largest side face, capped at 5 x 5 cm.
  • As of 4 September 2026, EUR-Lex records exactly one act supplementing the Battery Regulation: Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/606 of 21 March 2025 on the methodology for recycling efficiency and material recovery.
  • The recycled content act has been overdue since 18 August 2026. As long as it is missing, the Article 8 documentation duty nominally starting 18 August 2028 slides day for day.
  • The battery passport becomes mandatory on 18 February 2027 (Article 77) for LMT batteries, industrial batteries above 2 kWh and electric vehicle batteries. The implementing act defining who counts as a “person with a legitimate interest” was due on 18 August 2026 and is also missing.
  • New since 13 August 2026: Regulation (EU) 2026/1738 of 8 July 2026 on circular vehicle design and end-of-life vehicles replaced Annex I of the Battery Regulation and repealed Directives 2000/53/EC and 2005/64/EC.
  • Collection targets bind regardless of any Commission act: portable batteries 63 % by end 2027 and 73 % by end 2030; LMT batteries 51 % by end 2028 and 61 % by end 2031.

What the regulation covers - and who it binds

The regulation captures every battery placed on the EU market or put into service, whatever its origin, format or chemistry. It distinguishes five categories, and nearly every deadline depends on that classification:

  • Portable batteries - sealed, under 5 kg, used in household and consumer devices, and not industrial, LMT, starter or EV batteries.
  • LMT batteries (light means of transport) - for e-bikes, e-scooters and similar light vehicles.
  • Starter batteries - for starting, lighting or ignition; classically the 12 V lead-acid battery.
  • Industrial batteries - for industrial use, stationary storage and anything not falling into the other categories.
  • Electric vehicle batteries - traction batteries for vehicles of categories L, M and N.

The addressee is not only the manufacturer. The regulation binds the whole chain of economic operators - manufacturers, authorised representatives, importers, distributors and fulfilment service providers - each with its own verification, documentation and cooperation duties. Anyone who builds batteries into appliances and places those products on the market is caught too: Article 11 is addressed to that group explicitly.

What applies from when - the application dates in Article 96

Article 96 is where any planning exercise should start. The regulation entered into force on the twentieth day after publication and applies from 18 February 2024, with three express exceptions:

ProvisionApplies from
General rule (all remaining chapters)18 February 2024
Article 17 and Chapter VI - conformity assessment, notified bodies18 August 2024
Chapter VIII - waste management, collection, recycling18 August 2025
Article 11 - removability and replaceability18 February 2027

Article 17(2) has its own rule: it applies only twelve months after the first publication of the list referred to in Article 30(2) - the list of notified bodies.

In parallel, the old Battery Directive 2006/66/EC was repealed with effect from 18 August 2025 (Article 95). Three of its provisions live on: its Article 11 until 18 February 2027; Article 12(4) and (5) until 31 December 2025, except that data reporting to the Commission continues until 30 June 2027; and Article 21(2) until 18 August 2026. Anyone checking national implementing rules needs these transition windows, or gaps and double obligations appear.

The product requirements in detail

Carbon footprint (Article 7)

Electric vehicle batteries, rechargeable industrial batteries above 2 kWh and LMT batteries require a carbon footprint declaration per battery model and per manufacturing plant. It covers administrative information on the manufacturer, the battery model, the geographic location of the plant, the footprint in kg CO2 equivalent per kWh of total energy delivered over the battery’s service life, that same figure broken down by the life cycle stages in Annex II point 4, the identification number of the EU declaration of conformity, and a web link to a public version of the underlying study.

Application is staggered and coupled to Commission acts in both directions: for EV batteries from 18 February 2025 or twelve months after the relevant delegated or implementing act enters into force; for rechargeable industrial batteries from 18 February 2026 or eighteen months after - in each case whichever is later. A second stage adds a maximum threshold: for EV batteries from 18 February 2028 or eighteen months after the corresponding delegated act, again whichever is later. At that point the declaration turns into a market access condition.

The calculation logic mirrors the approach used outside the battery sector - see product carbon footprint and DPP.

Recycled content (Article 8)

Industrial batteries above 2 kWh, EV batteries and starter batteries containing cobalt, lead, lithium or nickel in active materials must be accompanied by documentation stating, per model, per year and per plant, the share of those metals recovered from manufacturing waste or post-consumer waste. The duty starts on 18 August 2028 or 24 months after the delegated act under Article 8(3) enters into force, whichever is later. For LMT batteries it applies only from 18 August 2033.

That delegated act - setting the calculation and verification methodology - was to be adopted by 18 August 2026. It has not appeared. While that remains true, 18 August 2028 moves back day for day.

Performance and durability (Articles 9 and 10)

Portable batteries and rechargeable industrial batteries must demonstrate electrochemical performance and durability parameters. The binding minimum values arrive only through delegated acts, with deadlines of 18 February 2026, 18 February 2027 and 18 August 2027. The first of those has passed.

Substance restrictions (Article 6 and Annex I)

Annex I holds the restrictions on mercury, cadmium and lead. It is a moving target: the Commission may amend it by delegated act where a substance poses a risk that is not adequately controlled. That has now happened - though via the legislature. Regulation (EU) 2026/1738 of 8 July 2026 replaced Annex I with effect from 13 August 2026. Anyone working from limit values copied out of an older version has been using stale figures since August 2026.

Removability and replaceability (Article 11)

From 18 February 2027, portable batteries must be readily removable and replaceable by the end user at any time during the product’s life. The duty falls on whoever places the product containing the battery on the market, not on the battery maker. “Readily removable” means removable with commercially available tools. The reference point is the whole battery, not an individual cell. This borders directly on the right to repair directive.

Labelling - what applies today and what does not

This is where the costliest misreading happens in practice. Article 13 uses the same formula for each of its three central labelling duties: “From 18 August 2026 or 18 months after the date of entry into force of the implementing act referred to in paragraph 10, whichever is the latest.” The duties concerned are:

  • paragraph 1 - the general information in Annex VI Part A on all batteries,
  • paragraph 2 - capacity information on rechargeable portable batteries, LMT batteries and starter batteries,
  • paragraph 3 - minimum average duration information and the “non-rechargeable” marking on non-rechargeable portable batteries.

The implementing act under Article 13(10), which sets the harmonised specifications for those labels, was due by 18 August 2025. It has not been adopted. So 18 August 2026 is not a starting gun but the earliest conceivable date: the duty begins 18 months after the missing act enters into force. Even if it appeared this year, labelling would not bite before 2028.

Binding regardless is Article 13(4): since 18 August 2025, all batteries must carry the separate collection symbol set out in Annex VI Part B. That provision contains no coupling to any Commission act. It also prescribes the size - at least 3 % of the largest side face, capped at an area of 5 x 5 cm, with a separate rule for cylindrical cells. Anyone who parked “labelling” until 2026 may have been in breach for over a year.

Due diligence - postponed to 18 August 2027

Chapter VII requires economic operators placing batteries on the market to establish battery due diligence policies: supply chain risk identification for cobalt, natural graphite, lithium and nickel, a management system, a complaints mechanism and - the demanding part - independent third-party verification by a notified body under Article 51, with periodic re-audits and an audit report.

The original start date was 18 August 2025. Regulation (EU) 2025/1561 of 18 July 2025 replaced Article 48(1) and (5) and moved the date to 18 August 2027. The amendment took effect on 31 July 2025 - barely two weeks before the original cut-off. For affected companies that means two extra years but no reprieve: the notified body has to be engaged and the audit cycle scheduled before the first battery ships under the new regime. The overlap with the CSDDD is deliberate, but the duties stand on their own - CSDDD compliance does not substitute for the battery-specific audit.

This postponement is part of the same simplification wave that has touched other files - see the EU omnibus packages.

Waste management, collection targets and producer responsibility

Chapter VIII has applied since 18 August 2025 and is the part of the regulation that runs without any coupling to Commission acts. Producers - or the producer responsibility organisations appointed under Article 57 - must set up take-back and collection systems, offer collection free of charge and cover the whole territory, expressly not limited to areas where collection is profitable.

The binding targets:

Battery categoryTargetDeadline
Portable batteries45 %31 December 2023
Portable batteries63 %31 December 2027
Portable batteries73 %31 December 2030
LMT batteries51 %31 December 2028
LMT batteries61 %31 December 2031

For recycling efficiency and material recovery the methodology already exists: Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/606 of 21 March 2025 sets the calculation, the verification and the documentation format. It is the only supplementing act the Commission has delivered so far. The registration and financing logic follows the pattern familiar from extended producer responsibility and the WEEE directive.

The battery passport from 18 February 2027

Article 77 requires, from 18 February 2027, that every LMT battery, industrial battery above 2 kWh and electric vehicle battery placed on the market has an electronic record - the battery passport. It holds model information and battery-specific data under Annex XIII, including information arising from use, and works with three access tiers:

  1. publicly accessible information under Annex XIII point 1,
  2. information under Annex XIII points 2 and 3, available only to notified bodies, market surveillance authorities and the Commission,
  3. information under Annex XIII points 2 and 4, available to persons with a legitimate interest.

An implementing act was supposed to define that third group by 18 August 2026. It is missing. Five months before the cut-off, it is therefore open which roles - repairers, remanufacturers, recyclers, fleet operators - see which data. Unlike labelling and recycled content, however, the Article 77 date is not coupled to that act: 18 February 2027 stands either way. The access control has to be built before its audience is legally defined.

Article 77 has already gained a paragraph 10 - inserted by the ESPR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, with effect from 18 July 2024. The bridge between the battery passport and the general product passport is thus written into the statute. For the data fields in detail, see our article on the battery passport.

Missing Commission acts - status 4 September 2026

ActDueStatus
Article 13(10) - harmonised labelling specifications18 August 2025overdue
Article 10 - minimum performance and durability values (first stage)18 February 2026overdue
Article 8(3) - recycled content methodology18 August 2026overdue
Article 77 - persons with a legitimate interest18 August 2026overdue
Recycling efficiency and material recovery18 February 2025delivered: Del. Reg. (EU) 2025/606
Article 10 - minimum values (second and third stage)18 February 2027 / 18 August 2027pending
Report on substances of concern in batteries31 December 2027pending
Amendment of recycling efficiency targets18 August 2029pending

A note on how far this table can be trusted: it is based on the EUR-Lex relations overview for act 32023R1542. As of 4 September 2026 that overview records exactly one “completed by” relation - Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/606 - plus three amending acts: the ESPR (Article 77(10)), Regulation (EU) 2025/1561 (Article 48) and Regulation (EU) 2026/1738 (Annex I).

The full timeline

DateWhat happens
18 February 2024Regulation starts to apply
18 August 2024Article 17 and Chapter VI - conformity assessment, notified bodies
18 February 2025CO2 declaration for EV batteries - nominal, coupled to an act
18 August 2025Chapter VIII; separate collection symbol; repeal of Directive 2006/66/EC
31 December 2025End of the carry-over of Article 12(4) and (5) of the old directive
18 February 2026CO2 declaration for rechargeable industrial batteries - nominal, coupled to an act
13 August 2026New Annex I via Regulation (EU) 2026/1738
18 August 2026Earliest labelling duty under Article 13(1) to (3); end of the carry-over of Article 21(2) of the old directive
18 February 2027Battery passport (Article 77); removability and replaceability (Article 11)
30 June 2027End of data reporting under the old directive
18 August 2027Due diligence (Article 48, postponed by Reg. (EU) 2025/1561)
31 December 2027Portable battery collection target 63 %
18 February 2028CO2 maximum threshold for EV batteries - earliest stage
18 August 2028Recycled content documentation - nominal, coupled to an act
31 December 2028LMT battery collection target 51 %
31 December 2030Portable battery collection target 73 %
31 December 2031LMT battery collection target 61 %
18 August 2033Recycled content documentation for LMT batteries

What this means for planning

1. Keep the two deadline types strictly apart

The regulation contains hard calendar dates (battery passport, removability, collection targets, due diligence) and coupled deadlines (labelling, CO2 declaration, CO2 threshold, recycled content). Only the first group belongs in a project plan. For the second, the date is a floor, not a deadline - and the signal comes from the Official Journal, not the calendar.

2. 18 February 2027 is the real bottleneck

The battery passport and the removability duty fall on the same day, and neither can slip. The passport needs a data base that links model-level and individual-battery data, can take in usage data and separates three permission tiers cleanly. That is not a PDF and not a QR code pointing at a product page.

3. Build access control before the law defines it

Because the act on “persons with a legitimate interest” is missing, permission logic has to be built so that roles can be added later without data migration. Hard-wiring who sees what today means rebuilding in five months.

4. The data work is unaffected by any postponement

When an act slips, the obligation moves - the workload does not. CO2 figures per model and plant, recycled shares per batch, supply chain data for four raw materials, performance and durability measurements: these data points are identical in every scenario and can be collected in the same structure that produces the product passport anyway. A practical sequence for that is in the DPP implementation checklist.

The Battery Regulation and the digital product passport

The Battery Regulation is the precedent. It prescribes first what the ESPR then generalises to nearly every product group: a unique product and operator identifier, a machine-readable data carrier, tiered access rights, data maintenance across the life cycle. Build the battery passport properly and the architecture for the general product passport is already standing - and anyone who has been through conformity assessment under Chapter VI knows the burden of proof that also applies to CE marking and the conformity assessment modules.

myDPP models the Battery Regulation as a data structure: model and serial data, carbon footprint declaration, recycled content evidence, access tiers, and the GS1 Digital Link as the data carrier. Pricing and scope are public.

Frequently asked questions

Is the EU Battery Regulation already in force?

Yes, since 18 February 2024. But not every chapter: Chapter VI from 18 August 2024, Chapter VIII from 18 August 2025, Article 11 from 18 February 2027. Individual product requirements additionally depend on Commission acts.

Do I have to relabel my batteries since 18 August 2026?

No. The labelling duties in Article 13(1) to (3) apply only 18 months after the implementing act under Article 13(10) enters into force, where that date is later - and the act does not exist. The separate collection symbol under paragraph 4, by contrast, has been mandatory since 18 August 2025.

Was due diligence really postponed?

Yes. Regulation (EU) 2025/1561 of 18 July 2025 replaced Article 48(1) and (5); the start date is now 18 August 2027 instead of 18 August 2025.

Does the regulation apply to me if I only sell appliances with built-in batteries?

Yes. Article 11 expressly binds the persons placing products with built-in portable batteries on the market, from 18 February 2027, to removability and replaceability. The labelling and information duties also reach through to product level.

Which acts have been adopted under the Battery Regulation so far?

Per the EUR-Lex relations overview as of 4 September 2026, one supplementing act - Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/606 of 21 March 2025 on recycling efficiency and material recovery - plus three amendments to the regulation itself: by the ESPR (2024/1781), by Regulation (EU) 2025/1561 and by Regulation (EU) 2026/1738.

From what capacity do I need a battery passport?

For industrial batteries, above a capacity of 2 kWh. LMT batteries and electric vehicle batteries need the passport regardless of capacity, in each case from 18 February 2027.

What does the new end-of-life vehicles regulation have to do with batteries?

Regulation (EU) 2026/1738 of 8 July 2026 governs circular vehicle design and end-of-life vehicles, repeals Directives 2000/53/EC and 2005/64/EC, and replaced Annex I of the Battery Regulation - the substance restrictions - with effect from 13 August 2026.

Sources

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