Knowledge BaseGlossary

Battery Passport

Definition

Definition
Battery passport

An electronic record required by Article 77 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, the EU Batteries Regulation. From 18 February 2027, each light means of transport battery, each industrial battery with a capacity greater than 2 kWh and each electric vehicle battery placed on the market or put into service must have one. It is linked to a unique identifier assigned by the economic operator placing the battery on the market, is accessible through the QR code required by Article 13(6), and contains the information set out in Annex XIII.

Expanded Explanation

The battery passport is the first Digital Product Passport written directly into binding EU law with an application date, rather than left to be specified later by a product-specific measure. That makes it the reference case for the wider passport concept, and it is why battery programmes can be planned against published text rather than against expectation.

Its content is tiered by audience rather than presented as a single list. Article 77(2), read with Annex XIII, distinguishes information accessible to the public, information accessible to notified bodies, market surveillance authorities and the Commission, and information accessible to persons with a legitimate interest and the Commission. Some of the last group is at the level of an individual battery rather than a battery model, including performance and durability values, state of health, status and usage data.

Responsibility sits with the economic operator that places the battery on the market or puts it into service, which under Article 77(4) must ensure the information is accurate, complete and up to date. That operator may authorise another operator in writing to act on its behalf. Article 77(7) transfers responsibility when a battery is prepared for reuse, repurposed, remanufactured or becomes waste, and Article 77(8) provides that the passport ceases to exist once the battery has been recycled.

Article 78 sets essential requirements for the passport itself, including interoperability with other Union digital product passports, access free of charge according to the applicable access rights, use of open standards, machine readability and the avoidance of vendor lock-in.

Why It Matters

The battery passport turns product information into a maintained, inspectable and legally attributable record. For most organisations the difficulty is not publication but origin: composition, recycled content and carbon footprint inputs typically belong to cell and material suppliers several tiers upstream, while the duty to publish and substantiate remains with the operator placing the battery on the market.

Relationship to Digital Product Passports

The battery passport and the passports created under Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 are separate legal instruments sharing one concept. The Batteries Regulation states the requirement directly; the ESPR creates a framework under which requirements are set per product group. Interoperability between them is an express requirement of Article 78.

Common Misconceptions

Common Mistake
Every battery needs a battery passport

Article 77(1) covers LMT batteries, industrial batteries above 2 kWh and electric vehicle batteries. Portable and SLI batteries are outside that requirement, although other obligations under the Regulation still apply to them.

Common Mistake
The battery passport is the QR code

The QR code required by Article 13(6) is the carrier. The passport is the tiered electronic record it leads to, which must be kept accurate and up to date.

Common Mistake
A passport provider becomes responsible for compliance

The duty in Article 77(4) sits with the economic operator placing the battery on the market, including where another operator is authorised in writing to perform the work.

See Also

References

About This Article

About This Article
Last Reviewed
2026-08-09
Next Scheduled Review
2027-08-09
Article Version
1.0

tieback Knowledge is a continuously maintained reference library covering Digital Product Passports, product traceability, product compliance and related regulations. Articles are reviewed regularly as legislation, standards and implementation guidance evolve.