Short answer
A digital battery passport is built from data that broadly falls into three groups: identification data of the battery and the party placing it on the market, technical and chemical specifications, and data on origin, sustainability and safety. In practice, this means you draw on product documentation that often already exists, supplemented by declarations from your supplier or manufacturer on matters such as material composition and CO2 footprint. Which documents exactly are needed depends on the type of battery and your role in the supply chain.
It is therefore rare that you start from scratch. Most companies already have a product sheet, a declaration of conformity and safety information on hand. The challenge lies in completing the full picture and recording which party has supplied which document, so that this remains traceable later.
Which documents form the core
The basis is identifying: a unique identification code for the battery, data on the manufacturer or importer, and the model or type. In addition, technical information is needed such as capacity, chemical composition, weight and the intended application. A third block concerns sustainability and origin: share of recycled material, information on critical raw materials, and where relevant a CO2 footprint declaration. Finally, safety information is needed, such as transport and handling instructions, and data relevant to disassembly and recycling at the end of the battery's life.
For industrial batteries and EV batteries, this is often supplemented by information on the state of the battery during use, such as remaining capacity, whereas for batteries for light means of transport the emphasis is more on basic identification and safety data. The regulation itself describes which data categories apply per battery type; that classification is the appropriate place to check per situation what exactly applies.
Where these documents come from
The detail most often overlooked in this topic is that a battery passport can rarely be completed in full by one party. The cell manufacturer typically knows most about chemical composition and material origin, the assembler or importer adds identification and market data, and sometimes a test laboratory provides the safety report. Whoever compiles the passport is thus largely dependent on what others in the supply chain supply.
This makes it practically wise to map early on which party normally holds which document, and to fix agreements on this in purchasing discussions or contracts. A supplier who knows that you need a complete file by 18 February 2027 can prepare for this well in advance; anyone asking for this only shortly beforehand runs the risk of delays because documentation is not always kept in the form that is needed as standard.
The detail that most often causes problems
Not all data in the passport are visible to everyone. The regulation distinguishes between information that must be made available to the end user via the QR code, and information that should only be accessible to supervisory authorities, recyclers or other market participants. This distinction in access levels is often forgotten when collecting documents, with the result that companies subsequently have to work out which document may be shown publicly and which must remain restricted. Anyone who has clarified this in advance prevents sensitive business information, such as precise recipe details, from inadvertently becoming public.
Keep documents, not just supply them
A passport is not filled in once and then abandoned. The underlying documentation must remain traceable throughout the period the passport is active, which in practice requires careful archiving: who has supplied which data, at what moment, and on the basis of which source document. This is also the reason why traceability of data is a subject that platforms in this field deliberately do not place behind a paywall; it concerns something that must remain verifiable, not an additional service.
Anyone who wants to check which documents are relevant for their own batteries will find the breakdown by data category in the knowledge base, where topics have been selected per situation the knowledge base with topics per situation. For those who do not yet know how that data from existing documentation ends up in a passport, there is an explanation of the process itself an explanation of how the data are processed. Practical concerns too, such as what happens with documents containing sensitive business information, are addressed in the frequently asked questions answers to frequently asked questions.
Finding out for yourself what applies to your situation
Because the precise list of documents differs per battery type and per role in the chain, a general checklist is always a starting point and never the end point. For a concrete assessment of what is needed for your products, and who in your chain is the appropriate party for that, the official text of the regulation or advice from a lawyer remains the most reliable source.
Would you like to see roughly where you stand before you start gathering documentation? Take the free quick-scan and optionally create a business account to see the breakdown per obligation the free quick-scan that maps out your situation.