The most common mistake in the conversation with your software supplier about the digital battery passport is that the conversation gets stuck on technology: hosting, a QR code, a connection with your webshop. The question that remains unanswered as a result is who supplies the underlying data, verifies it and keeps it up to date during the years the passport must exist. A software supplier can build a system that works perfectly, without it being clear who is responsible for the accuracy of what is in it.
This distinction is not pedantic. The battery regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1542) requires that the passport is available and up to date for the lifetime of the battery. A supplier who only provides the technology solves part of the task, but not the part for which your company is held accountable if something is wrong.
What usually happens in that conversation
In practice, the conversation often goes like this: your software supplier or ICT party proposes to build the passport as an additional module on top of an existing system, and the questions are about connections, storage and the appearance of the QR code. These are legitimate questions, but they are about the form of the passport, not its content. Who will then supply the chemical composition of the battery, the carbon footprint figure, the repair and disassembly information? And what happens if a manufacturer changes that data a year later?
The consequence of this focus on technology is that companies only notice after delivery that the data is incomplete, or that no one has agreed on who will update it. At that point, the passport is there, but it is unclear whether the content still matches what is actually in the battery.
Why this is more than an IT project
The temptation is great to treat the battery passport as a construction task: find a supplier, have a system delivered, done. But the regulation focuses on the content and traceability of data, not on the technology used to display it. Supervisory authorities that check a passport look at what is in it and whether it matches the actual battery, not at how beautifully the QR code is designed.
This means that the conversation with your software supplier is actually two conversations in one: a conversation about the system, and a conversation about the process by which data comes in, is verified and is updated when changes occur. Anyone who skips that second conversation risks having the technology ready before the content is. More about how these two things relate to each other can be read in the knowledge base with explanations per subject.
Questions that sharpen the conversation
A number of questions prevent the conversation from getting stuck on technology. Ask who supplies the source data: the manufacturer, the importer, or does the supplier expect you to provide it yourself. Ask how changes to that data are implemented, and within what timeframe. Also ask what happens if the supplier ceases operations, or is taken over: does the passport remain accessible via the same QR code, or do you have to start over.
These questions are not intended to distrust a supplier, but to know in advance what is and is not arranged. A supplier who can simply answer these questions gives a good signal about how the process is set up. If you want to first get clear yourself about which data you already have and which are still missing, then the product scan with a few short questions provides a first indication of that.
Where batpas.eu fits into this conversation
Batpas.eu compiles the battery passport from the data you or your manufacturer provide, hosts it for the statutory period and supplies the QR data carrier. How that data is processed and where it comes from is described on the page about how the data becomes a passport. This makes it easier in a conversation with a software supplier to distinguish between what the technology handles and what you yourself, or via a party like batpas.eu, must ensure in terms of data management.
Do you have any questions about what is precisely required of a supplier or of yourself, then you will find an overview of frequently asked questions on the page with frequently asked questions.
Do you want to know where your own assortment currently stands, without immediately calling a supplier? Do the free quick-scan or browse through the topics in the knowledge base to first get an idea yourself before you enter into the conversation.