Do portable batteries also need a battery passport?

What you need to do concretely

What is expected of you

Portable batteries are a separate category in the batteries regulation, alongside inter alia LMT batteries (for light electric vehicles), EV batteries and industrial batteries above 2 kWh. Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (batteries regulation) describes a portable battery as a battery that is sealed, not designed to operate independently, can be carried by hand and is not intended for industrial use. Think of the battery in a remote control, a wireless headphone, an electric hand tool or a small household appliance. The obligation regarding the battery passport in Article 77 is explicitly linked to certain categories, and portable batteries are not currently listed as a mandatory category — unlike LMT batteries, EV batteries and industrial batteries above 2 kWh.

Checking whether a battery is actually "portable" within the meaning of the regulation

The categorisation is not always straightforward. A battery that can be lifted by hand is not automatically a portable battery: what matters is, among other things, whether the battery is sealed and not designed to operate independently. For a company that imports batteries or processes them in its own products, this means that the categorisation is checked per product line against the definitions in Article 3, not on the basis of weight or size alone. Anyone in doubt as to whether a battery qualifies as portable, as an LMT battery or as something else, will find the demarcation on the page on which batteries fall under the Battery Regulation.

Other obligations from the batteries regulation remain applicable

The fact that portable batteries do not (yet) require a passport does not mean that the regulation otherwise leaves them untouched. Matters such as labelling, information on composition and rules on collection and recycling apply to several categories, including portable batteries. For a company with 10 to 100 employees, it is practical to manage the obligations per category separately from each other: the fact that there is no passport obligation must not be the reason to neglect the rest of the file. An overview of what changes more broadly compared to the old rules is on the page what is changing with the new batteries regulation.

Determining whether a product with an integrated portable battery falls under something else

Some products contain a portable battery, but the product itself falls under a different logic — for example, when the device is equipped with a battery that technically meets the description of another category, or when there is doubt about the categorisation. For companies that integrate batteries into their own devices, it is important to establish who in the chain is responsible for assessing the battery category. Anyone who incorporates a battery into their own product and wonders who in that case compiles the documentation will find a starting point on the page the battery is built into my product — who then makes the passport.

Where things go wrong in practice

A number of situations regularly occur in practice with companies working with portable batteries.

An electronics importer assumes that "no passport obligation" means "no obligations", and consequently neglects the labelling and information obligations that do apply to portable batteries.

A machinery manufacturer incorporates a small battery into a device and assumes without further verification that it is a portable battery, whereas the power class or intended use actually points in the direction of another category.

A dealer in accessories for electric bikes treats the small battery in a bike computer or lighting system in the same way as the drive battery of the bike itself, whereas the latter, as an LMT battery, has a different status — see also the page on the battery of an e-bike or scooter.

A product developer assumes that the classification of a battery is fixed for the entire product lifetime, whereas a design change — for example making a battery removable that was previously sealed — may place the battery in a different category.

A company raises the question "do we need a digital product passport" only shortly before a trading moment, without first having established which category the company's own batteries actually fall into, and then still has to find out which of the other obligations apply.

What you can record

• An overview per product line of the battery category in which the battery used falls, with reference to the definition from Article 3 that has been applied.
• The substantiation of that classification, so that in case of later inspection or change in product design it is traceable why a battery was classified as portable.
• A list of the obligations from the Battery Regulation that do apply to portable batteries, separate from the question about the digital product passport.
• Arrangements with suppliers or importers about who maintains the data on the composition and origin of the battery.
• A moment in the year when the classification of existing product lines is reviewed, especially in case of changes in design or application.

For companies uncertain whether their specific assortment falls under the digital product passport obligation, the starting point on the page does the battery passport apply to my batteries is a logical starting point to compare their own situation against, even when the answer for portable batteries is currently negative.