EU Battery Regulation vs ESPR: What Is the Difference and Does Your Product Fall Under Both

If you sell products into the EU that contain batteries, you may be asking whether the battery regulation vs ESPR question even applies to you, or whether one regulation simply covers the other. The short answer is that they are parallel obligations. Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 sets battery-specific rules, including a mandatory battery passport. The ESPR Regulation 2024/1781 sets ecodesign and digital product passport requirements for a wide range of physical goods, and batteries are not excluded from its scope. A battery manufacturer cannot substitute an ESPR digital product passport for a battery passport, and an ESPR passport does not remove the need for a battery passport where one is required.

What Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 Covers

Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 applies to all batteries, including batteries incorporated into or added to products, as stated in Article 1(1) and Article 1(3). It does not just regulate battery manufacturers. Some duties fall on whoever places a product incorporating a battery on the market. The removability and replaceability rules in Article 11, for example, apply from 18 February 2027 (Article 96(2), point (a)) to any natural or legal person placing on the market a product incorporating a portable battery or an LMT battery (Article 11(1) and (5)).

The battery passport requirement sits in Article 77(1). It applies from 18 February 2027 to three categories of battery: light means of transport (LMT) batteries, industrial batteries with a capacity above 2 kWh, and electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Portable batteries and smaller industrial batteries are not in scope for the passport at that date.

The passport must carry specific information. Annex XIII, point 1(c) requires carbon footprint information accessible to the public. Point 1(e) requires recycled content information, also publicly accessible. Point 1(b) requires disclosure of the material composition of the battery, including hazardous substances present in it other than mercury, cadmium or lead, meaning substances classified under Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, as defined in Article 3(1), point (52) of the Battery Regulation. The passport itself applies from 18 February 2027 (Article 77(1)). The carbon footprint and recycled content information that feeds it is governed by Articles 7 and 8, which carry their own application dates.

The regulation was adopted under both Article 114 TFEU (internal market) and Article 192(1) TFEU. The Article 192(1) basis applies specifically to the waste battery provisions in Articles 54 to 76. That dual legal basis reflects the regulation’s scope: it covers product design and market access, and it covers end-of-life collection, treatment and recycling.

What Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR) Covers

Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 applies to any physical goods placed on the market or put into service in the EU, except those listed in Article 1(2). Batteries are not in that exclusion list. The regulation was also adopted under Article 114 TFEU.

ESPR does not set ecodesign or passport requirements directly in its main text. Instead, it authorises the Commission to adopt delegated acts under Article 4 for specific product groups. Those delegated acts set the actual requirements, including any digital product passport obligations. Under Article 9(1), the information requirements provide that a product can only be placed on the market if a digital product passport is available in accordance with the applicable delegated acts adopted under Article 4.

As of 5 October 2026, no ESPR delegated act setting passport requirements for any product group had been adopted. That means no ESPR passport is mandatory yet for any product. The Commission’s working plan COM(2025) 187 gives indicative adoption years for named product groups, but those are planning estimates, not confirmed dates. The date for any specific product group will be set in the relevant delegated act. Under Article 4(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, that date cannot be earlier than 18 months after the delegated act enters into force, except in duly justified cases or in cases of partial repeal or amendment of delegated acts.

ESPR does contain one vehicle-related exclusion. Article 1(2)(h) states that ESPR does not apply to vehicles within Regulations (EU) No 167/2013, (EU) No 168/2013 and (EU) 2018/858 for the product aspects already regulated by sector-specific Union acts. This matters for manufacturers of road vehicles, but it does not remove the battery passport obligation for EV batteries placed on the market.

Battery Regulation vs ESPR: Where the Obligations Overlap

Both regulations ask for some of the same categories of information. ESPR lists carbon footprint and recycled content among the product parameters a delegated act may address, in Annex I, points (n) and (h) respectively. The battery passport already requires carbon footprint information under Annex XIII, point 1(c) and recycled content information under Annex XIII, point 1(e), from 18 February 2027 for in-scope batteries.

On substances, the two regulations use different terms. The battery passport requires disclosure of hazardous substances, other than mercury, cadmium or lead, classified under Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 (Annex XIII, point 1(b)). ESPR requires information requirements to track “substances of concern,” a wider term defined in Article 2(27) that includes substances identified under Article 59(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH). For a product covered by both, the exact overlap in substance data will only be known once the relevant ESPR delegated act specifies what it requires.

The structural difference is important. The Battery Regulation sets its passport content directly in Article 77 and Annex XIII. ESPR sets its passport content through delegated acts adopted under Article 4. A battery manufacturer must comply with Annex XIII from 18 February 2027 regardless of whether any ESPR delegated act has been adopted. The two passports are separate instruments and one cannot substitute for the other.

Does Your Finished Product Need Its Own Passport Too?

The battery passport covers the battery. It does not cover the finished product that contains the battery. Whether the finished product needs its own digital product passport depends on which regulation applies to it.

Under ESPR, the finished product needs a passport where an applicable delegated act adopted under Article 4 requires one for it (Article 9(1)). No such act had been adopted as of 5 October 2026.

Other Union acts impose a passport directly, without waiting for an ESPR delegated act. Regulation (EU) 2025/2509 requires the manufacturer to create a passport before placing a toy on the market. Article 19 sets that requirement, and Article 59 of that regulation fixes the application date at 1 August 2030. The passport content for toys is set in Part I of Annex VI to that regulation, as referenced in Article 19(2)(c).

For road vehicles, the picture involves three separate instruments. Regulation (EU) 2024/1257 (Euro 7) requires manufacturers to issue an environmental vehicle passport, defined as a record in digital form under Article 3, point (68). Article 7(4) sets that requirement. Under Article 21, it applies from 29 November 2026 to new types of M1 and N1 vehicles and from 29 November 2027 to new M1 and N1 vehicles, with later dates for other vehicle categories and for small-volume manufacturers. Separately, Regulation (EU) 2026/1738 requires each vehicle within its scope placed on the market from 1 September 2032 to carry a Digital Circularity Vehicle Passport. Article 2(1) of that regulation covers vehicles of categories M1 and N1 initially, adds special purpose vehicles of those categories from 1 September 2029, and adds categories M2, M3, N2, N3, O and L from 1 September 2031. Article 13(1) requires that passport to be aligned and interoperable with the battery passport and the Euro 7 environmental vehicle passport. An EV manufacturer in the M1 or N1 category therefore faces three separate passport obligations: the battery passport under Article 77 of the Battery Regulation, the environmental vehicle passport under Article 7(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1257, and the Digital Circularity Vehicle Passport under Article 13(1) of Regulation (EU) 2026/1738.

A Practical Checklist

• Do you place LMT batteries, industrial batteries above 2 kWh, or EV batteries on the market? If yes, you need a battery passport from 18 February 2027 under Article 77(1) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542.
• Do you place a product incorporating a battery on the market? If yes, the removability and replaceability rules in Article 11 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 apply to you from 18 February 2027, even if you did not make the battery.
• Is your finished product covered by an ESPR delegated act? As of 5 October 2026, no delegated act requiring a passport has been adopted. Monitor the Commission’s work plan for your product group.
• Is your finished product a toy? A product passport is required from 1 August 2030 under Article 19 of Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, regardless of ESPR.
• Is your finished product an M1 or N1 road vehicle? Three separate passport obligations apply, each from its own date: the environmental vehicle passport under Article 7(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1257 (from 29 November 2026 for new types of M1 and N1 vehicles), the Digital Circularity Vehicle Passport under Article 13(1) of Regulation (EU) 2026/1738 (from 1 September 2032) and, for EV batteries, the battery passport under Article 77(1) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (from 18 February 2027).
• Can you use one passport to satisfy both regulations? No. The battery passport and any ESPR or sector-specific product passport are separate legal instruments with separate content requirements.

If you want to see how Traceable maps these obligations to your specific product and battery type, register for a free trial. The platform covers both the battery passport data requirements under Annex XIII and the product-level passport obligations that apply to your category. Setup takes under a day.