Short answer
From 18 February 2027, every EV battery, LMT battery and industrial battery above 2 kWh placed on the EU market must carry a QR-linked battery passport (Article 77, Regulation (EU) 2023/1542). Behind the QR code sit four data categories: identity, technical and performance, sustainability and carbon footprint, and circularity and supply chain.
The deadline is fixed; the precise field list is being finalised by a delegated act due 18 August 2026, so treat the contents below as the settled structure with the fine detail still landing.
The date is the one hard fact everyone can plan around. On 18 February 2027 the passport obligation switches on for the three in-scope categories. What trips people up is the second half of the question: what actually has to be in the passport, and where each piece of data comes from. This page walks the four categories and flags which ones you can fill yourself versus which you must extract from your supplier.
The deadline, precisely
Article 77 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 requires that, from 18 February 2027, each electric-vehicle battery, LMT battery and rechargeable industrial battery with a capacity greater than 2 kWh placed on the market or put into service has an electronic record — the battery passport — unique to that battery and accessible through a data carrier (a QR code). The identifier is at the individual-battery level for EV and industrial batteries, and the record must stay available for the battery's life and beyond. Portable and SLI batteries are not in this 2027 passport scope.
The four data categories behind the QR code
Article 77, read with Annex XIII, organises the required content into four groups. Here they are with the practical question of who holds each piece.
| Category | What it covers | Who usually holds it |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Identity | Unique battery/model identifier, manufacturer identity, battery category, weight, place and date of manufacture. | You as operator, but manufacturing data comes from the cell/pack maker. |
| 2. Technical & performance | Rated capacity, voltage, expected lifetime in cycles, temperature range, composition including critical raw materials and hazardous substances. | Cell / pack supplier. |
| 3. Sustainability & carbon footprint | The carbon-footprint declaration per kWh, lifecycle-stage breakdown, and the performance class once thresholds apply. | Supplier LCA data — not computable from a spec sheet. |
| 4. Circularity & supply chain | Recycled-content shares (cobalt, lithium, nickel, lead), recyclability and dismantling information, and the due-diligence report. | Supplier plus your own due-diligence policy. |
1. Identity
The straightforward-looking one, but the manufacturing facts — where and when the cells were made, the model identifier — sit with whoever built the battery. If you import, you need those from your supplier to assign and print the identifier correctly.
2. Technical and performance
Rated capacity, nominal voltage, expected cycle life, operating temperature range and full material composition (including any critical raw materials and hazardous substances). These are your supplier's numbers, and they must match what the passport shows.
3. Sustainability and carbon footprint
This is the category that most often has a gap on the day. The carbon-footprint declaration is a lifecycle figure per kWh, calculated to the EU's own methodology — site-specific and batch-level, with offsets not allowed. You cannot derive it from a datasheet; it requires lifecycle data from the manufacturer. And note this obligation is already live for EV and larger industrial batteries under Article 7, ahead of the passport — see the guide on the carbon-footprint rule.
4. Circularity and supply chain
Recycled-content percentages for cobalt, lithium, nickel and lead; recyclability and safe-dismantling information; and the supply-chain due-diligence report. Due-diligence obligations under Article 48 apply from 18 August 2027 (postponed by Regulation (EU) 2025/1561), so this category continues to fill in after the passport itself goes live.
Where the QR code goes
The passport is reached through a data carrier — a QR code — printed on the battery, or where that is not feasible on its packaging or accompanying documents. Scanning it resolves to the electronic record. The QR/labelling requirements themselves come in from 18 August 2026 under Article 13, ahead of the full passport.
This guide is general information about Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, not legal advice. The exact passport fields, access rules and identifier standard are being finalised through a pending delegated act and standards work; confirm the current position with qualified counsel before relying on it.
Frequently asked questions
When is the battery passport deadline?
18 February 2027. From that date, every EV battery, LMT battery and industrial battery above 2 kWh placed on the EU market or put into service must carry a QR-linked battery passport, under Article 77 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542.
What data must the passport contain?
Four areas: identity information; technical and performance characteristics; sustainability and carbon-footprint information; and circularity and supply-chain data including recycled content and due diligence (Article 77 and Annex XIII).
Is the exact field list final?
Not fully. The categories are set, but the precise fields, access rules and identifier standard are being finalised through a delegated act the Commission must adopt by 18 August 2026 and ongoing standardisation.
Where does the QR code go?
On the battery itself or, where that is not feasible, on its packaging or accompanying documentation, resolving to the passport record.
Find out which of your batteries need one
Screen your products against Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, see who owns the passport, and get the supplier data-request letters to start filling the four categories.
Check my batteries → get my battery passport reportSources
- Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, Article 77 and Annex XIII — battery passport requirement from 18 February 2027 and the information to be included. eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1542/oj
- Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, Article 7 — carbon-footprint declaration (feeds the sustainability category). Article 13 — labelling and QR code from 18 August 2026. Article 48 — due diligence (feeds the circularity category). eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1542/oj
- Regulation (EU) 2025/1561 — amending regulation postponing due-diligence obligations to 18 August 2027. via EUR-Lex 2023/1542 consolidated
Honesty note, as of 9 July 2026: the passport's exact data fields, access rules and identifier standard are still being finalised via the delegated act the Commission must adopt by 18 August 2026 and ongoing standardisation. The 18 February 2027 deadline and the four data categories are fixed; the field-level detail is a plan, not a final spec.