Battery Passport Glossary
25 terms from Annex XIII to access levels, every entry self-contained and honest about the status of the legal acts.
Your battery passport reference
This glossary explains key terms around the battery passport under the EU Battery Regulation, from Annex XIII to access levels. Every entry is self-contained: you can look up a single term or read the glossary from A to Z. Where legal acts are still missing, we say so openly instead of claiming obligations that do not yet exist. All in-depth guides on obligations, deadlines and implementation are bundled in our topic hub: battery passport overview. And if you would rather explore a term directly in a passport of your own: your first battery passport is free forever in our software: battery passport software. Information current as of 20 August 2026.
A to B
Annex XIII
Annex XIII of the Battery Regulation lists the data points a battery passport must contain and assigns them to three access levels: publicly available information, information for persons and bodies with a legitimate interest and for the Commission, and an authority level that additionally covers only the test reports. The Commission's guidance of 28 July 2026 fleshes out the annex with 71 data points, organized by category, and states for each point whether it is mandatory. How a legitimate interest is to be demonstrated is to be set out in an implementing act under Article 77(9); this act has not yet been adopted. See also the entry on access levels.
Battery passport
The battery passport is a digital record for an individual battery, required by Article 77 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542. From 18 February 2027, every LMT battery, every EV battery and every industrial battery above 2 kWh placed on the market in the EU needs its own passport. It contains information on the manufacturer, materials, performance and durability, among other things, and is accessible via a QR code on the battery. Part of the data is public, other parts are reserved for specific groups. What exactly the passport is and who it affects: What is a battery passport?.
Battery Regulation
Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 is the EU legal framework for batteries, from sustainability requirements and labeling to collection and recycling. The battery passport sits in Chapter IX, that is, in Articles 77 and 78. As a regulation it applies directly in all member states, without national implementing laws. Many detailed obligations, however, depend on downstream implementing acts and delegated acts that the Commission adopts step by step; some of these are still outstanding. Which batteries need a passport and when: Battery passport obligation: from when?.
BMS (battery management system)
BMS stands for battery management system, the electronics that monitor the condition and operation of a battery, such as state of charge, aging and temperature. The BMS matters for the battery passport because data points on the battery's condition can come from it. In practice there are also batteries without a BMS, for example classic lead-acid batteries; adapted data requirements apply to them. When creating a passport, the battery type is therefore the first fork in the road: it determines which fields are mandatory, which remain optional and which are dropped entirely.
C to D
Carbon footprint
The carbon footprint of a battery is to be declared and displayed in the passport in the future. These obligations have not been triggered, however: they depend on legal acts on methodology and format that the Commission has not yet adopted. The Commission's guidance of 28 July 2026 explicitly clarifies for the carbon footprint declaration and the carbon footprint label that they do not yet have to be filled in or displayed from February 2027. Anyone preparing a battery passport today should know the fields but does not yet have to provide them. There is currently no fixed start date for the carbon footprint obligations; any claim to the contrary is speculation.
Digital product passport (DPP)
The digital product passport is the overarching EU concept: a structured, digitally retrievable record for each product, accessible via a data carrier on the product itself. The Ecodesign Regulation ESPR introduces it step by step for many product groups; the battery passport has its own legal basis in the Battery Regulation and, with 18 February 2027, already has a fixed start date. Both follow the same core principles: a unique identifier, a machine-readable format and tiered access rights. Software for battery passports is therefore a specialized form of DPP software: DPP software.
DIN SPEC 99100
DIN SPEC 99100 is a German guideline for the battery passport. It translates the requirements of the Battery Regulation into a concrete workflow with seven steps, from master data to publication. As a DIN SPEC it is not a harmonised standard and creates no presumption of conformity; it is, however, a practical structuring aid for implementation within a company. Our editor follows this structure with seven guided steps: battery passport software.
E
eIDAS verification
eIDAS is the EU regulation on electronic identification and trust services. For the battery passport it becomes important at the EU registry: only an economic operator that has verified itself with an eIDAS-compliant electronic seal may register there. The verification is valid for at most three years and cannot be delegated away: service providers may register on an operator's behalf if they are verified themselves, but they cannot take over the economic operator's own verification. Companies should plan for this early, because an electronic seal has to be procured first.
EN 18222
EN 18222 is the European standard for the application programming interface (API) of digital product passports. Among other things, it describes methods for retrieving a passport via the product identifier or the passport ID, as well as access to earlier versions as of a given date. The final DIN version has been announced for September 2026 but was only available as a draft at the time of writing. Our REST API is aligned with the methods of EN 18222; the full conformity assessment is still open, and no certificate for it exists.
ESPR
ESPR stands for the EU Ecodesign Regulation, the framework that gradually introduces digital product passports for many product groups. It does not apply directly to batteries: the battery passport has its own legal basis in the Battery Regulation. Important for context: Decision (EU) 2026/1736 harmonises six DPP standards under the ESPR; the associated presumption of conformity applies only to ESPR product passports, not to the battery passport. For batteries, using these standards remains voluntary.
EV battery
EV battery refers to the traction battery of an electric vehicle. Alongside LMT batteries and industrial batteries above 2 kWh, EV batteries form one of the three categories subject to the battery passport obligation from 18 February 2027; Article 77 does not set a capacity threshold for EV batteries. The passport of an EV battery contains, among other things, information on performance and durability that stays relevant over the vehicle's lifetime, for example for workshops, second use and recycling.
G to I
GLN (Global Location Number)
The GLN is a thirteen-digit GS1 identifier that uniquely identifies companies and locations. In the battery passport context it serves to name economic operators and manufacturing sites unambiguously, for example the plant where a battery was made. GS1 identifiers are licensed from the respective national GS1 organization; which license a company needs is its own decision and responsibility. It makes sense to sort out your own identifiers before the first passport is due to be published.
GS1 Digital Link
GS1 Digital Link is a standard that translates GS1 identifiers such as the GTIN and serial number into a web address. A single QR code thus leads people to the readable passport page and machines to structured data. For the battery passport this is a major advantage: the canonical passport URL can be built as a GS1 Digital Link, so the printed QR code stays permanently stable while the content behind it is updated and versioned. Our public passport pages use exactly this URL scheme.
GTIN
The GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) is the GS1 article number that uniquely identifies a product model worldwide, familiar from the barcode in retail. For the battery passport, the GTIN together with a serial number forms the basis for addressing an individual battery, for example in a QR code following GS1 Digital Link. The last digit of the GTIN is a check digit; careful systems validate it before a passport is published. Which information has to be in place before publication is covered in the entry on the completeness check.
Industrial battery
Industrial batteries are batteries for industrial applications, including stationary energy storage. Industrial batteries with a capacity above 2 kWh are subject to the battery passport obligation from 18 February 2027; smaller industrial batteries are exempt from the passport obligation. Stationary battery energy storage systems have some data points of their own in Annex XIII. What the passport obligation means in concrete terms for manufacturers and providers of storage systems is covered in a dedicated guide: battery passport for energy storage.
Placing on the market
Placing on the market means making a product available on the EU market for the first time. For the battery passport this moment is decisive: the obligation applies to batteries of the affected categories placed on the market from 18 February 2027; batteries placed on the market earlier do not need a passport retroactively. Anyone importing a battery from a third country and making it available in the EU for the first time places it on the market and thereby takes on obligations of their own. What that means for importers: battery passport for importers.
L to Q
LMT battery
LMT stands for light means of transport, such as e-bikes and e-scooters. LMT batteries are, alongside EV batteries and industrial batteries above 2 kWh, the third category subject to the battery passport obligation from 18 February 2027. For manufacturers and brands in the e-bike space, the passport thus becomes part of every market launch from that date. We have summarized the specifics for e-bike batteries, from battery type to QR labeling, in a separate guide: battery passport for e-bikes and e-scooters.
QR labeling
The Battery Regulation requires a QR code on the battery that leads to the battery passport (Article 13(6) and (7) and Annex VI Part C). The obligation takes effect together with the passport obligation from 18 February 2027. Because the code is printed or lasered long before content changes, the URL behind it should be permanently stable: the passport is updated and versioned, the code on the battery stays the same. For prepress, vector formats such as SVG are common alongside PNG; for larger series, bulk exports help.
R to S
Registry (EU battery passport register)
The registry is the central register of the EU Commission in which economic operators must register their battery passports. The legal basis is Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778, applicable since 6 August 2026. The registry does not store passport content but a directory of identifiers, a commodity code and a hash. A sandbox environment has been available since 20 July 2026; the registration of battery passports is currently still locked on the EU side because the semantic catalogue is missing. According to the EC helpdesk, the Commission plans the catalogue and the registry APIs for the fourth quarter of 2026; the registration obligation starts on 18 February 2027. The current status in detail: EU battery passport registry.
Recycled content
Recycled content indicates how much recovered material a new battery contains. In the battery passport, the recycled content shares for cobalt, lithium, nickel and lead are each mandatory data points according to the Commission's guidance. Binding minimum quotas, however, do not apply yet, and the legal act on the calculation methodology was still outstanding at the time of writing despite the lapsed deadline. For the passport, this is initially about stating the shares transparently, not about meeting a quota.
Semantic catalogue
The semantic catalogue is the Commission's announced directory that defines the data points of the battery passport uniformly and in machine-readable form. It is the missing prerequisite for registering battery passports in the EU registry; that is exactly why battery registration there is currently locked. According to the EC helpdesk's reply of 4 August 2026, the semantic catalogue and the registry APIs, including full documentation, are planned for the fourth quarter of 2026. Until then, passports can already be created, published and shared; only the entry in the EU register is waiting for the go-ahead.
U to Z
UPI (Unique Product Identifier)
UPI stands for Unique Product Identifier, the unique identifier under which a passport is kept in the EU registry. Under the technical specifications, the UPI must have a URL format and may be at most 50 characters long. In practice, various schemes are candidates, such as URN notations or URLs following GS1 Digital Link; the final determination depends on the still outstanding registry documentation. Anyone planning identifiers today should already pay attention to URL capability and the length limit.
Completeness check
A completeness check, often called a publish gate, ensures that a battery passport can only be published once all mandatory information is in place. What is typically checked: the organization's mandatory data, GS1 identifiers including the check digit, and the completeness of all content steps. The reason: a published passport is publicly accessible; incomplete drafts should never reach that state in the first place. In our editor, the check blocks publication until all seven steps are fully completed. Everything that has to be ready before publication: battery passport checklist 2027.
Economic operator
Economic operator is the Battery Regulation's umbrella term for companies with obligations along the supply chain, such as manufacturers, importers and distributors. For the battery passport, the economic operator placing the battery on the market is responsible: it must provide the passport, register it in the EU registry once the obligation takes effect, and get eIDAS-verified for this. A DPP service provider, by contrast, is not a defined actor under the Battery Regulation; a delegated act on service providers is not expected until around the second quarter of 2027. In any case, responsibility stays with the economic operator.
Access levels
The battery passport does not show everything to everyone. Annex XIII defines three access levels: public data points can be viewed by anyone via the QR code, without login and without cost. A second level is reserved for persons and bodies with a legitimate interest and for the Commission. The third level additionally covers only the test reports and is aimed at authorities. How a legitimate interest is to be demonstrated is to be set out in an implementing act under Article 77(9); it is still outstanding. Implemented cleanly, this means: restricted data is never delivered to public requests in the first place.
From looking things up to your own passport
We keep this glossary up to date as the legal situation evolves, for example on the semantic catalogue or the still open implementing acts. The in-depth guides on deadlines, obligations and costs are bundled in our topic hub: battery passport overview. And if you want to move from reading to doing: create an account and build your first battery passport in seven guided steps; it is free forever: battery passport software.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the battery passport and the digital product passport?
The digital product passport (DPP) is the overarching EU concept for product-related records, introduced gradually for many product groups by the Ecodesign Regulation ESPR. The battery passport rests on its own legal basis, Article 77 of the Battery Regulation, and becomes mandatory from 18 February 2027. Both follow the same principles: a unique identifier, a machine-readable format and tiered access rights.
When does the battery passport become mandatory?
From 18 February 2027. Affected are LMT batteries, EV batteries and industrial batteries with a capacity above 2 kWh that are placed on the market in the EU from that date. On the same date, the QR labeling obligation and the obligation to register the passport in the EU register take effect.
Who sees which data in the battery passport?
Annex XIII divides the data points into three access levels: public information for everyone who scans the QR code, restricted information for persons with a legitimate interest and for the Commission, and an authority level that additionally covers only the test reports. The implementing act governing proof of legitimate interest has not yet been adopted.
Is there a seal or certification for battery passport software?
No. There is neither an official seal nor a certification scheme for battery passports or DPP service providers. Even the harmonised DPP standards create a presumption of conformity only for ESPR product passports, not for the battery passport. The only credible statement is which standards and schemas a solution is aligned with, for example EN 18222 or DIN SPEC 99100.
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