What do I do if a battery must be recalled?

Who takes the initiative in a recall

In a recall, the initiative lies with the market operator who placed the battery on the market or trades in it: they take corrective measures as soon as it becomes clear that a battery does not comply with the battery regulation, or poses a risk to safety, health or the environment. This can be the manufacturer, but also the importer or distributor, depending on who discovers the problem or is alerted to it. Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (battery regulation), articles 79 to 84 describe what constitutes "non-conformity" and "a battery that poses a risk", and what steps are involved: informing the competent market surveillance authority, restricting or ceasing to place on the market, and where necessary recalling batteries that have already reached end users. Articles 38 to 44 divide these tasks among the roles in the supply chain — manufacturer, authorized representative, importer and distributor — and who takes which step depends on where the problem is identified.

For whom and in what situations this applies

This applies to anyone who places or trades in batteries within the scope of the regulation on the EU market: EV batteries, batteries for light electric vehicles and industrial batteries above 2 kWh, and therefore also to the importers and traders served by batpas.eu. The regulation distinguishes two situations. Non-conformity means that the battery does not meet a requirement in the regulation — think of missing or incorrect documentation, an incorrect CE marking or an incomplete digital product passport. A battery that poses a risk is something different: a danger to safety, health or the environment, regardless of whether compliance with the documentation is otherwise met. Both situations lead to corrective measures, but not automatically to a full recall to end users — that is the most severe measure and is used when ceasing or modifying the supply alone is not sufficient to eliminate the risk. This section does not cover general product safety legislation outside the battery regulation, nor does it cover a voluntary recall carried out for commercial reasons without non-conformity or risk being present.

When the obligation arises

This obligation does not have a future start date like 18 February 2027 which applies to the digital battery product passport. The obligation to take corrective measures arises at the moment a market operator establishes, or has reasonable grounds to believe, that a battery does not comply or poses a risk. This can already occur, even before the passport becomes mandatory, because the regulation also contains requirements that apply earlier. The sources provided do not mention a separate entry date for the articles on risk batteries and corrective measures; they describe a continuing obligation that applies as long as a market operator places batteries on the EU market. Until the moment a specific problem is identified, nothing changes — this obligation is therefore not something to schedule on a calendar date, but something that takes effect as soon as a reason for it arises.

What this means in practice, step by step

First, determine which role applies: manufacturer, importer or distributor, because Articles 38 to 44 do not impose the same obligations on everyone. Next follow the steps that in practice usually run in this order. First, assess whether it is a case of non-conformity, a risk, or both, and how serious it is. Second, stop or restrict the placing on the market of the batteries concerned, so that the problem does not spread further. Third, inform the competent market surveillance authority, with a description of the problem and the measures taken or planned. Fourth, inform other market actors in the chain — an importer that discovers the problem informs the manufacturer, a distributor informs the importer, and so on through the chain. Fifth, assess whether end-users have already received a battery concerned, and if so, inform them and offer a solution such as repair, replacement or take-back. Finally, document the measures taken, so that it is demonstrable which steps were taken when. For those who have a digital product passport drawn up via batpas.eu, there is a specific additional point: if the problem is related to inaccurate or incomplete data in the passport itself, that information is corrected so that the QR data carrier points to correct data again.

The legal basis: Articles 38-44 and 79-84

What non-conformity and risk precisely mean, and which corrective measures go with them — stopping, recall, withdrawal, informing authorities — is set out in Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (Battery Regulation), Articles 79 to 84. Which market actor bears which obligation, whether manufacturer, authorised representative, importer or distributor, follows from Articles 38 to 44 of the same regulation, which establish the allocation of roles in the supply chain.

Anyone who now faces a suspected non-conformity or a risk with a battery starts by documenting exactly what is wrong and with whom in the chain that must be shared. The full text of Articles 38 to 44 and 79 to 84 of the Battery Regulation is in the EUR-Lex source below and describes exactly which step belongs to which role.

What this is based on

The Regulation itself is on EUR-Lex. We refer for each statement; you need not believe us.

What you need to do concretely

What is expected of you

A recall typically does not start with a letter from a supervisory authority, but with a signal: a complaint, a defect report, a malfunction pattern that appears with multiple customers. From the moment it becomes clear that a battery does not meet the requirements or poses a risk, obligations apply to the market participant who has placed the battery on the market — and often also to the parties downstream in the supply chain. This is described in Articles 79 to 84 and in Articles 38 to 44 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (Battery Regulation), which governs the obligations of manufacturers, importers and distributors.

Assessing whether there is non-conformity or risk

When a signal is received, the first step is to determine whether the battery actually does not meet the requirements, or poses a risk to health, safety or the environment. For a company of 10 to 100 employees, this practically means that someone must be available to receive, weigh and escalate such signals — often the quality officer or the person who also manages the technical documentation. Without a fixed point of contact, a complaint remains on the pile too long before someone recognises its seriousness.

Taking corrective measures

Once it is established that a battery is not in conformity, corrective measures follow: this can range from adjusting production, to removing stock from the market, to a full recall from the end user. Which measure is appropriate depends on the nature and severity of the problem. For companies that import or assemble batteries, this is often the phase in which logistics, customer service and technical teams must coordinate simultaneously — and in which it becomes apparent whether the company's own record-keeping is in order. Anyone who cannot quickly identify which batches were delivered where, loses time that cannot be made up.

Informing the competent authorities

In addition to taking measures, there is an obligation to inform the competent authorities. For a medium-sized company, this means that someone must know which authority that is, and what must be reported. This is not something to figure out at the first incident — the question "who do we call" is a question that must be answered before a recall, not after.

Passing on information in the supply chain

Market participants also have obligations towards each other: an importer who learns from a manufacturer that a battery is not in conformity shall pass this on to the parties to which he himself has supplied, and conversely a distributor who identifies something itself may have to report this back. For a company that both imports batteries and resells them to installers or retailers, this means that communication must flow in two directions: to the supplier and to its own customers. Anyone without a fixed procedure for this will discover during a recall that no one knows who should send which information to whom.

Cooperating with the supervisory authority

In a recall that becomes visible to the supervisory authority, there is an obligation to cooperate: provide requested documentation, be able to demonstrate the origin and distribution of the battery, and indicate what measures have been taken. This aligns with what is also relevant outside of a recall — see what a supervisory authority asks for in an inspection of batteries. A company that already maintains this documentation in a structured manner does not need to reconstruct files under time pressure during a recall.

Where things go wrong in practice

A first recurring problem is that a complaint pattern is not recognised as such: individual reports are received by different people (customer service, sales, technical) and are not related to each other, so that a signal that actually calls for action remains unaddressed for weeks.

A second situation is deficient traceability: a company knows that there is a problem with a particular batch, but cannot quickly determine which customers received that batch, because batch numbers have not been recorded consistently at the point of sale or delivery.

A third situation arises with batteries that have been in stock for a considerable time at the moment a problem comes to light — see also what to do with batteries already in stock. Uncertainty about who is responsible for that stock, the importer or the party that has since sold it on, delays the decision on corrective measures.

A fourth situation arises with second-hand or refurbished batteries: when a battery has been given a second life, it is not always clear who at that time acts as a market participant and thus which obligations in a recall action rest on whom — this touches on the questions that also come up in second-hand and refurbished batteries and at giving a battery a second life.

A fifth situation is that notification to the competent authority is delayed because internally there is still discussion about the severity of the problem, while the delay in that assessment itself already causes delay in the entire response.

What you can record

A fixed point of contact and a fixed route for complaints and reports of defects, so that signals do not remain scattered across different departments.
An overview of batch numbers and deliveries per customer, so that in a recall action it is quickly clear which batteries have ended up where.
A recorded agreement about which competent authority is contacted and at what point in time, so that this does not have to be worked out during an incident.
Templates for notification to suppliers and customers in the chain, so that the information obligation up and down the chain is not filled in ad hoc.
A file per battery type with technical documentation and conformity data, comparable to what is built up when gradually assembling the battery passport, so that this data is also immediately available in a recall action.
An overview of who in the chain acts as a market participant with batteries that are given a second life, so that responsibilities in a recall action are not unclear from the outset.
A test moment before go-live of the digital passport in which it is also checked whether batch and delivery data are correctly linked — see testing the battery passport before go-live — so that this data in a recall action can actually be traced back.

This is not legal advice. This page provides general information about the legislation that this platform covers. We do not know your situation. If in doubt about your own case, consult a lawyer or the competent supervisory authority.

Written with AI based on the sources above, checked by a human on 2026-08-22. Is something wrong? Let us know — corrections take priority.