A digital battery passport that is created and then goes offline does not disappear without consequences. The regulation establishes that the data must remain accessible throughout the stated period via the QR data carrier on the battery. If that access is lost, a situation arises in which the battery is placed on the market, but the corresponding passport no longer does what it must do: provide information to those who ask for it. This does not merely affect a formality, it affects the core of why the passport exists.
The consequences described by the regulation operate on two levels. There is the supervisory side: a market surveillance authority can identify an inaccessible passport as a deficiency that calls for action. And there is the practical side: a customer, a recycler or a next link in the chain who scans the QR code and finds nothing cannot then assess what is in the battery or how it must be safely processed. Both sides carry weight, even if the first does not yet present itself today.
What 'keeping available' precisely means
The regulation refers to a period in which the data must remain accessible, calculated from the moment the battery is placed on the market. This is not a one-off action but an ongoing obligation: the hosting must continue to work, the link behind the QR code must continue to point to the correct content, and the data must match what was recorded at the time. Anyone who arranges this themselves with their own website or server must ensure that that environment continues to exist for the entire period, even if the company relocates, switches software provider or discontinues a product line. In the knowledge base with all topics sorted by situation is explained how this obligation relates to other components of the passport.
When the passport is actually missing
There is a difference between a passport that was never created and a passport that existed but has become temporarily or permanently inaccessible. In both cases the information is missing at the moment someone seeks it, but the cause — and with it what there is to remedy — differs. A temporary disruption is something different from a passport that was set up with a supplier who has ceased operations and has not transferred the data. Both situations fall under the same obligation, but do not require the same approach to resolve them.
What consequences the regulation describes
The text of the regulation itself does not mention fixed penalty amounts or concrete sanctions for this specific case; these are filled in by the national legislation of each Member State and by the supervisory authority responsible there. What is clear: an inaccessible passport can be seen as a deficiency in placing the battery on the market, with all the consequences attached to it according to the rules that apply at that time. How strictly this will be judged and how often this will be checked is impossible to predict with certainty and may differ by country and supervisory authority.
Alongside the legal process, practical consequences that are equally noticeable come into play. A business customer who purchases batteries for a machine or a fleet of vehicles can factor the absence of a working passport into the assessment of a supplier. An importer who resells batteries to installation companies can receive questions that cannot be answered without access to the original data. Such consequences arise independently of a penalty, simply because the information that should exist is not there at the moment someone asks for it.
What this means for your choice of hosting
Since this involves a ten-year period, the question of who hosts the data and how long that party can guarantee it is at least as important as the question of what the product passport looks like now. A supplier that offers a working solution today must also exist in five or eight years and be able to display that data. That is a different consideration than with ordinary software, where switching to a different supplier usually has little impact on previously supplied products. In how we keep the data accessible throughout the entire period is described which choices play a role in this.
Arranging things in advance is easier than restoring them afterwards
If you already have doubts now about whether the product passport for a particular battery has been set up correctly and will continue to work, it is best to check this in advance rather than wait until there is a question from a customer or supervisory authority. This starts with a clear picture of which batteries fall under the obligation and who in the chain is responsible for creating and maintaining the passport. For your own situation, and for questions about liability or enforcement, a lawyer or the competent supervisory authority is the appropriate party to consult; this article describes the main lines, not advice for a specific case.
Do you want to quickly know where you stand for your own range? Take the free quick-scan via in a few questions see whether this applies to your batteries or browse through the topics in answers to similar questions about the product passport.