The European Union's overhaul of battery rules enters its most consequential phase in five months. On 18 February 2027, two major obligations take effect: portable batteries in phones, laptops and countless other devices must be removable with ordinary tools, and electric vehicle, e-bike and larger industrial batteries must carry a Digital Battery Passport recording their composition, carbon footprint and supply chain history.
The regulation was adopted in 2023, but the practical details companies need to comply have arrived in fits and starts. Some are still arriving. That gap between the legal deadline and the regulatory fine print is where the current friction sits.
The removability requirement and its exceptions
The rule on replaceable batteries sounds straightforward: a consumer with a standard screwdriver should be able to swap a worn-out cell without proprietary equipment or a repair shop. For manufacturers that have glued or sealed batteries into waterproof or ultra-thin designs, it amounts to a product redesign.
The regulation already exempts medical devices and so-called wet appliances such as electric toothbrushes and water flossers. In April 2026 the Commission opened a consultation on six further categories. On 14 July it adopted a delegated act adding wearable devices including smartwatches and fitness trackers, electric toys, and equipment for potentially explosive environments to the exemption list.
That clarity came years after the main deadline was set. For makers of wearables and toys, the question of whether they needed to redesign at all was only settled this summer. Euralarm, representing the fire safety and security industry, warned that 81 exemption requests submitted in 2025 still had pending decisions in April 2026. The association argues that manufacturers need at least two years to retool if an exemption is denied.
Digital passports and the supply chain problem
The Digital Battery Passport is the regulation's most ambitious transparency measure. From February 2027, every EV battery, light-transport battery and industrial battery above 2 kWh placed on the EU market must carry one. The passport aggregates 71 data points, some mandatory, some optional, some conditional, covering chemistry, performance, recycled content and carbon intensity.
The Commission published consolidated guidance this month mapping those 71 fields. But compliance is not simply an internal reporting exercise. A battery's carbon footprint depends on upstream mining, refining and cell production, much of which occurs outside Europe. Researchers at Leiden University have argued that the EU lacks a verification architecture capable of checking data across those disparate jurisdictions.
"Most stages of battery production take place outside the EU," said Edgar Hertwich, one of the Leiden researchers. "If the EU wants to reduce emissions, it must ensure that global supply chains are both willing and able to work with its accounting rules."
A precedent for delay
The Commission has already shown it will move deadlines when industry readiness lags. Battery due diligence obligations, covering responsible sourcing of raw materials, were originally due in August 2025. They were pushed to August 2027 as part of a wider package to simplify sustainability reporting. That precedent matters: it signals that the February 2027 date is not immovable, but also that any further extension would need a formal legislative act.
Category confusion and compliance risk
The regulation divides batteries into portable, electric vehicle, light means of transport and industrial categories, each with distinct obligations and timetables. Determining which category a product falls into is the first compliance step, and it is not always obvious. A battery pack in a high-power e-scooter might straddle the portable and light-transport thresholds, triggering different passport and removability rules.
Companies therefore face a layered uncertainty: they must know their category, confirm whether an exemption applies, assemble 71 data points from a global supply chain, and redesign hardware where removability is required, all before a deadline that has been fixed since 2023.
How we got here
The regulation replaced the 2006 Batteries Directive after years of negotiation between the European Parliament, Council and Commission. It entered into force in August 2023 with a staggered implementation calendar. The first collection and recycling targets applied from 2025. The February 2027 milestones, removability for portable batteries and passports for transport and industrial batteries, are the most visible consumer-facing and industrial-facing changes respectively.
People mentioned
-
Edgar Hertwich
Organisations
European Commission · Euralarm · Leiden University
