What conformity declaration and CE marking go with a battery?

What you need to do concretely

What is expected of you

The CE marking on a battery is a manufacturer's declaration: the product complies with the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542. This declaration does not come out of nowhere — there is an assessment procedure that precedes it, and that procedure is described in articles 17 to 20 of the regulation. Who in practice is involved in this procedure depends on the role a company plays: manufacturer, importer or someone who places a battery on the market under their own brand. On Am I an importer or manufacturer according to the battery regulation? is shown how these roles relate to each other.

Carrying out or having conformity assessment performed

Article 17 describes the conformity assessment procedure: the method used to determine whether a battery complies with the requirements. For a company with 10 to 100 employees, this usually means that this assessment is not carried out in-house, but is procured from a test institute or completed on the basis of documentation already provided by the manufacturer. Anyone who develops and produces a battery themselves bears the full burden of this assessment. Anyone who imports or resells an existing battery is dependent on what the manufacturer has already had assessed — and must be able to demonstrate this.

Drawing up and keeping the EU declaration of conformity

Article 18 requires drawing up an EU declaration of conformity: a document in which the manufacturer declares that the battery complies with the applicable requirements, with reference to the assessment procedure used and the standards involved. For an importer, this mainly means: requesting this declaration, checking whether it relates to the correct model and the correct version, and keeping it accessible. For a company selling batteries under its own brand, this is different — see I sell batteries under my own brand — what obligations do I get? for how the own-brand role can shift the responsibility for this declaration.

Affixing the CE marking in accordance with the rules

Article 20 regulates how and where the CE marking is affixed: visibly, legibly, and not removable. This is a physical or administrative action that in practice lies with the manufacturing location. An importer who repackages batteries, relabels them or offers them under its own type number becomes subject to this requirement at the moment the product's identity changes — then it must be established again whether the marking is still correct and corresponds to the right document.

Checking the notified body, where applicable

For certain battery types and categories, involvement of a notified body is part of the assessment procedure set out in article 17. Which bodies are designated for this purpose is listed in the NANDO database of the European Commission. For a company working with a certificate from a test institute, checking whether that body is listed in NANDO is a simple but often overlooked check.

Determining who in the chain bears this obligation

With a battery entering the EU through multiple links — manufacturer outside the EU, importer, distributor, possibly a marketplace — it is not always obvious who supplies which part of this procedure. What obligations does a distributor of batteries have? describes where the role of distributor ends and where that of importer begins on this point.

Where things go wrong in practice

A common situation is an importer receiving a declaration of conformity that relates to a different model or an earlier product version than the battery actually being imported. The document appears complete, but the type designation or cell chemistry does not match the batch actually delivered.

A second situation: the CE marking is on the battery, but there is no corresponding declaration of conformity available when requested. The marking was affixed by the manufacturer in the country of origin, but the administrative trail behind it did not come with the shipment.

A third situation arises with private label sales: a company places its own brand name on a battery produced by a third party, without realising that this action can have consequences for the question of who is responsible for the declaration of conformity.

A fourth situation is the notified body that no longer exists or does not appear in NANDO — a certificate refers to a body whose notification has expired or been withdrawn, without this being noticed.

A fifth: batteries are sold via a marketplace without it being clear who in that sales chain manages the CE documentation. See also What does the battery regulation mean if I sell via an online marketplace?.

What you can record

• The EU declaration of conformity per battery type, with a clear link to the type number or model number that appears on the marking and on the packaging.
• An overview of which conformity assessment procedure has been applied per product category, with reference to article 17.
• Evidence that a notified body involved was registered in NANDO at the time of assessment.
• Correspondence with the manufacturer or supplier in which the declaration of conformity was requested and received, including date.
• An internal check when modifying packaging, labelling or brand name: whether the CE marking and the associated declaration still apply to the modified product.
• Recording of who within the company is responsible for keeping and being able to produce these documents — a role that relates to the question What does extended producer responsibility for batteries entail?.