regulation
Do Our Batteries Even Need a Passport? A Scope Check Against Regulation 2023/1542
Not every battery needs a Digital Product Passport in 2027. Here's the category-by-category scope of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, including the exclusions and the CN codes that matter.
The short answer
Only three battery categories need a Digital Product Passport from 18 February 2027: EV batteries, LMT (light means of transport) batteries, and rechargeable industrial batteries above 2 kWh. Everything else is either later or not scheduled at all.
Note the legal basis: batteries are not governed by ESPR. They have their own regulation — (EU) 2023/1542 — which is why the scope question is answered by that regulation's text, not the ESPR working plan.
Scope by category
| Battery category | Definition | Passport mandatory from |
|---|---|---|
| EV batteries | Batteries for electric vehicles | 18 February 2027 |
| Industrial (rechargeable, >2 kWh) | Industrial use, capacity above 2 kWh | 18 February 2027 |
| LMT batteries | E-bikes, e-scooters, Class L vehicles | 18 February 2027 |
| Industrial with external storage | Grid-scale stationary storage, external components | 18 February 2029 |
| Portable batteries | Phones, laptops, power tools, AA/AAA | No mandatory date set |
Excluded from the entire regulation: military, space, and nuclear applications. Button cells have no passport obligation on the current timeline. Portable batteries of general use face minimum performance and durability requirements from 18 August 2028 — but that is not a passport requirement.
Checking your catalog by CN code
If your product list is long, customs classification is a fast first-pass filter. The relevant codes sit in Chapter 85:
- 8506 (primary, non-rechargeable cells) — excluded from passport requirements entirely for now.
- 8507 50 (lithium-ion accumulators) — the core category: EV, LMT, and >2 kWh industrial are all in the 2027 wave; portable-device lithium-ion is not.
- 8507 10 / 20 (lead-acid) — SLI starter batteries and industrial lead-acid have passport obligations phased in later.
- 8507 30 / 40 / 60 / 80 (Ni-Cd, NiMH, lithium-other, other) — in scope of the regulation, with passport applicability determined by the category the battery serves, not its chemistry.
The pattern to internalize: scope follows application and capacity, not chemistry. The same 21700 cell is out of scope inside a laptop and in scope inside an e-bike pack.
The trap: capacity thresholds on multi-product lines
The 2 kWh line for industrial batteries means one product family can straddle the boundary — a 1.8 kWh and a 2.4 kWh variant of the same design fall on opposite sides. Scope your catalog at the variant level, not the product-family level, or you'll under-count what needs a passport in 2027.
What this means for your team
Run the scope check now — it takes an afternoon with a product list and this table, and it converts a vague company-wide worry into a finite list of SKUs with a known deadline. Most teams find the in-scope list is smaller than feared, and the real work is concentrated on a handful of product lines.