EU Battery Regulation 2023/1542 Explained: Every Obligation for Economic Operators

What the regulation is

Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 of 12 July 2023 concerning batteries and waste batteries was published in OJ L 191 on 28 July 2023 and entered into force on 17 August 2023. It amends Directive 2008/98/EC and Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, and repeals Directive 2006/66/EC.

Article 1 sets out what it does: sustainability, safety, labelling, marking and information requirements for placing batteries on the market; minimum extended producer responsibility requirements; collection and treatment of waste batteries; due diligence obligations for economic operators; and green public procurement rules.

It has since been amended twice, by Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, and by Regulation (EU) 2025/1561, and corrected four times, most recently in April 2026. Always work from the consolidated version rather than the original Official Journal text.

Scope and the five battery categories

Article 1(3) applies the regulation to all categories of batteries "regardless of their shape, volume, weight, design, material composition, chemistry, use or purpose", including batteries incorporated into or added to products. Where a battery could fall into more than one category, the category with the strictest requirements applies.

Article 1(4) is easy to miss: battery cells or modules made available on the market for end use, without further assembly into a larger pack, count as batteries in their own right, and the requirements of the most similar category apply.

Exclusions are narrower than often assumed. Article 1(5) excludes batteries for equipment connected with essential security interests, arms, munitions and war material, and equipment designed to be sent into space. Article 1(6) is only a partial exclusion: Chapters III and IX do not apply to equipment specifically designed for the safety of nuclear installations. Everything else still does.

The five categories, from Article 3(1):

Why a Regulation, not a Directive

Recital 10 states the reasoning directly: to address the whole life cycle of a battery in one legal instrument while avoiding trade barriers and safeguarding the internal market, the rules should be of uniform application for all economic operators across the Union "and not leave room for divergent implementation by Member States". Directive 2006/66/EC was therefore replaced by a Regulation.

The practical effect is that obligations bite on fixed EU-wide dates with no transposition step, and definitions and thresholds no longer vary by country. A manufacturer reads one text rather than 27 national implementations. Directive 2006/66/EC was repealed on 18 August 2025, subject to transitional provisions.

Restricted substances (Article 6)

Article 6(1) provides that, in addition to the restrictions in Annex XVII to REACH and Article 4(2)(a) of the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive, batteries must not contain substances restricted under Annex I unless the conditions of that restriction are complied with. Annex I covers mercury, cadmium and lead. Recital 22 notes that batteries used in vehicles benefiting from an Annex II exemption under Directive 2000/53/EC are excluded from the prohibition on containing cadmium.

Carbon footprint (Article 7)

Article 7 applies to electric vehicle batteries, rechargeable industrial batteries with a capacity greater than 2 kWh, and LMT batteries. It escalates in three stages.

Stage one, declaration. Article 7(1) requires a carbon footprint declaration per battery model per manufacturing plant, containing administrative information about the manufacturer, information about the battery model, the geographic location of the manufacturing plant, the carbon footprint expressed as kg CO2e per kWh of total energy provided by the battery over its expected service life, the footprint broken down by life-cycle stage under Annex II point 4, the identification number of the EU declaration of conformity, and a web link to a public version of the supporting study. Until the declaration is accessible via the QR code, it must accompany the battery.

Application dates run from the nominal date or a lead time after the enabling delegated act and implementing act enter into force, whichever is the latest. The lead time differs by category:

Recycled content (Article 8)

Article 8 applies to industrial batteries with a capacity greater than 2 kWh (except those with exclusively external storage), electric vehicle batteries and SLI batteries that contain cobalt, lead, lithium or nickel in active materials. Note the asymmetry in the drafting: cobalt, lithium and nickel are measured as recovered content present in active materials, while lead is measured as recovered content present in the battery.

Documentation comes first. From 18 August 2028, or 24 months after the enabling delegated act enters into force, whichever is the latest, each battery must be accompanied by documentation stating the actual percentage shares, for each battery model per year and per manufacturing plant. For LMT batteries this obligation applies from 18 August 2033. The Commission was required to adopt the calculation and verification methodology, and the documentation format, by 18 August 2026.

Then binding minimums, in two tiers. The scope widens at the second tier:

Performance and durability (Articles 9 and 10)

• Rechargeable industrial batteries above 2 kWh, except those with exclusively external storage: from 18 August 2027, or 18 months after the delegated act (due 18 February 2026), whichever is the latest.
• LMT batteries: from 18 August 2028, or 18 months after the delegated act (due 18 February 2027), whichever is the latest.

Removability and replaceability (Article 11)

Anyone placing products incorporating portable batteries on the market must ensure those batteries are readily removable and replaceable by the end-user at any time during the product's lifetime. The obligation applies to entire batteries, not to individual cells or other parts within them.

A portable battery counts as readily removable where it can be removed with commercially available tools, without requiring specialised tools (unless supplied free of charge with the product), proprietary tools, thermal energy or solvents. Instructions and safety information on use, removal and replacement must accompany the product and be made permanently available online on a publicly available website, in a form easily understandable to end-users.

Article 11(2) allows two derogations, under which the battery may be removable and replaceable only by independent professionals: appliances specifically designed to operate primarily in an environment regularly subject to splashing water, water streams or immersion and intended to be washable or rinseable (and only where the derogation is required for user and appliance safety); and professional medical imaging and radiotherapy devices, and in vitro diagnostic medical devices. Article 11(3) disapplies the duty where continuity of power supply is necessary and a permanent connection is required for user and appliance safety, or, for products whose main function is collecting and supplying data, for data integrity reasons.

For LMT batteries, Article 11(5) requires that the battery and the individual cells within the pack be readily removable and replaceable by an independent professional at any time during the product's lifetime.

Two duties are routinely overlooked. Article 11(7) requires portable and LMT batteries to be available as spare parts for the equipment they power for a minimum of five years after the last unit of that equipment model is placed on the market, at a reasonable and non-discriminatory price for independent professionals and end-users. Article 11(8) prohibits using software to impede the replacement of a battery or its key components with a compatible alternative.

Article 11 carries no application date of its own. Article 96, the entry into force and application provision, applies it from 18 February 2027. Article 11(9) requires the Commission to publish guidelines to support harmonised application.

Stationary storage safety (Article 12)

Stationary battery energy storage systems placed on the market or put into service must be safe during their normal operation and use.

Since 18 August 2024, the Annex VIII technical documentation must demonstrate compliance and include evidence of successful testing against the safety parameters in Annex V using state-of-the-art testing methodologies, an assessment of possible safety hazards not addressed in Annex V, evidence that those hazards have been successfully mitigated and tested, and mitigation instructions in case an identified hazard occurs, such as fire or explosion. The safety parameters apply only where a corresponding hazard exists for the system in question under the conditions envisaged by the manufacturer. The documentation must be reviewed if the battery is prepared for re-use, prepared for repurposing, remanufactured or repurposed.

Recital 43 notes this is the first time stationary storage has been covered by EU safety legislation. For the passport-specific angle on stationary storage, see the guide below.

• BESS battery passport guide

Labelling, marking and CE marking (Articles 13 and 17 to 20)

Labelling under Article 13 phases in.

From 18 August 2025, all batteries must be marked with the separate collection symbol shown in Annex VI Part B. The symbol must cover at least 3% of the area of the largest side, up to a maximum of 5 x 5 cm, or at least 1.5% of the surface area for cylindrical cells. Where the battery is so small that the symbol would be under 0.47 x 0.47 cm, a symbol of at least 1 x 1 cm goes on the packaging instead.

From 18 August 2026, or 18 months after the harmonised labelling implementing act enters into force, whichever is the latest, batteries must bear a label containing the general information in Annex VI Part A. Rechargeable portable, LMT and SLI batteries must additionally carry a capacity label. Non-rechargeable portable batteries must carry a label showing minimum average duration in specific applications and a "non-rechargeable" marking. The Commission was required to adopt that implementing act by 18 August 2025.

Batteries containing more than 0.002% cadmium or more than 0.004% lead must be marked with the chemical symbol Cd or Pb, printed beneath the separate collection symbol and covering at least a quarter of its area. These marking thresholds are distinct from the Annex I restriction limits.

From 18 February 2027, all batteries must be marked with a QR code as described in Annex VI Part C. The QR gives access to: the Article 77 battery passport, for LMT batteries, industrial batteries above 2 kWh and EV batteries; for other batteries, the information in Article 13(1) to (5), the Article 18 declaration of conformity, the Article 52(3) report and the waste information in Article 74(1)(a) to (f); and for SLI batteries, the amount of cobalt, lead, lithium or nickel recovered from waste and present in active materials, calculated under Article 8.

Labels and QR codes must be printed or engraved visibly, legibly and indelibly on the battery, or affixed to the packaging and accompanying documents where the nature or size of the battery makes that impossible or unwarranted. Batteries prepared for re-use, prepared for repurposing, repurposed or remanufactured must bear new labels showing their change of status.

• For Articles 6, 9, 10, 12, 13 and 14: Module A (internal production control) or Module D1 for batteries manufactured in series; Module A or Module G for batteries not manufactured in series.
• For Articles 7 and 8: Module D1 or Module G only. Both involve a notified body. Carbon footprint and recycled content cannot be self-declared.

Article 18 requires an EU declaration of conformity in the Annex IX model structure, kept up to date and drawn up in electronic format. Articles 19 and 20 govern CE marking: affixed visibly, legibly and indelibly to the battery before it is placed on the market or put into service, followed by the notified body's identification number where Annex VIII requires it. Under Article 38(4), manufacturers keep the technical documentation and the declaration at the disposal of national authorities for 10 years.

State of health and second life (Article 14)

Since 18 August 2024, up-to-date data for the state-of-health and expected-lifetime parameters in Annex VII must be held in the battery management system of stationary battery energy storage systems, LMT batteries and electric vehicle batteries.

Article 14(2) requires read-only access to that data, on a non-discriminatory basis and respecting the manufacturer's intellectual property rights, for the natural or legal person who has legally purchased the battery, including independent operators and waste management operators, or any third party acting on their behalf, for three purposes: making the battery available to independent aggregators or market participants through energy storage; evaluating residual value or remaining lifetime and capability for further use; and facilitating preparation for re-use, preparation for repurposing, repurposing or remanufacturing.

Article 14(3) requires the battery management system to include a software reset function, so that operators carrying out those operations can upload different BMS software. Where the reset function is used, the original manufacturer is not liable for any breach of safety or functionality attributable to software uploaded after the battery was placed on the market.

Supply-chain due diligence (Chapter VII)

Scope sits in Article 47, not Article 48. Chapter VII does not apply to economic operators with a net turnover of less than EUR 40 million in the financial year preceding the last financial year, and that are not part of a group whose consolidated turnover exceeds EUR 40 million. It also does not apply to the placing on the market of batteries prepared for re-use, prepared for repurposing, repurposed or remanufactured, where those batteries had already been placed on the market beforehand.

The application date has moved. Following the amendment made by Regulation (EU) 2025/1561, Article 48(1) applies the due diligence obligations from 18 August 2027, rather than the original 18 August 2025. The Commission's deadline for publishing guidelines was likewise reset to 26 July 2026.

Operators in scope must set up and implement battery due diligence policies, have them verified by a notified body under Article 51 and periodically audited by that body, and keep documentation, including the verification report, the approval decision and the audit reports, for 10 years after the last battery manufactured under the relevant policy was placed on the market. Operators may collaborate with others, including through recognised due diligence schemes, but individual responsibility remains.

End-of-life (Chapter VIII)

Producer registration and extended producer responsibility. Producers must register in each Member State where they first make batteries available on the market, per battery category, under Article 55. There is no single EU registration. Producers finance and organise separate collection, treatment and recycling, compositional surveys of mixed collected municipal waste, reporting on batteries and waste batteries, and information to end-users and waste operators. Obligations apply to all forms of supply, including distance selling, and may be discharged collectively through producer responsibility organisations. Recital 103 confirms this chapter is lex specialis in relation to Directive 2008/98/EC.

Who owes what (Chapter VI)

Obligations are allocated by role, and they are not the same for everyone.

Enforcement and secondary legislation

Market surveillance runs through Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, whose Annex I this regulation amends. Authorities perform checks on an adequate scale and can require corrective action, withdrawal or recall. The Commission may designate Union testing facilities for batteries. Penalties are set nationally and must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

Where secondary legislation stands as of September 2026:

The pattern is clear. Labelling, CE marking, stationary storage safety, performance documentation, state-of-health data and waste management obligations are live now. Carbon footprint and recycled content are legally deferred until their enabling methodologies arrive, because both articles run on "whichever is the latest".

Obligations at a glance

*Subject to the Article 47 turnover threshold, from 18 August 2027. "Take-back" means collected and taken back free of charge, with no percentage target.

Where the passport fits

The battery passport under Article 77 is required for LMT batteries, industrial batteries above 2 kWh and electric vehicle batteries from 18 February 2027, and is reached through the QR code mandated by Article 13(6). It is the reporting surface for much of what this guide describes, including carbon footprint, recycled content, due diligence outcomes, performance data and end-of-life information, but it is one obligation among many.

We cover the passport in depth separately:

Frequently asked questions

Sources and references

• Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, EUR-Lex
• Consolidated text as amended to 31 July 2025, EUR-Lex
• EUR-Lex summary: sustainability rules for batteries and waste batteries
• Regulation (EU) 2025/1561 (due diligence postponement), EUR-Lex
• Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation), EUR-Lex
• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/606 (recycling efficiency and material recovery methodology), EUR-Lex
• European Commission Joint Research Centre, carbon footprint of batteries