Updated 21 August 2026: The legal deadline for this act was 18 August 2026. It passed without the Commission adopting the act. According to the Commission's own planning, adoption is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2026. For now, base your access tiers on the regulation text itself.
“Will my competitors see my cell chemistry?” That is one of the most common concerns manufacturers raise when they first hear about the battery passport. The answer: no, not by default.
The EU Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 does not make all battery data publicly accessible. Instead, Articles 77 and 78 together with Annex XIII define a differentiated access model with three clearly delineated tiers. Each tier determines who can access which data, from end consumers and market surveillance authorities to recyclers and repair operators.
This article explains the three access tiers in detail, identifies which specific data fields belong to each category, and clarifies how your trade secrets remain protected.
The 3 Access Tiers at a Glance
The EU Battery Regulation distinguishes three access tiers for the battery passport in Article 77(2). Each tier has a defined audience and a specified dataset:
| Tier | Access | Legal Basis | Data Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1: Public | Anyone (QR code scan) | Annex XIII, point 1 (Art. 77(2)(a)) | Basic specs, CO₂, recycled content |
| Tier 2: Authorities | Market surveillance, notified bodies, EU Commission | Annex XIII, points 2 and 3 (Art. 77(2)(b)) | Detailed composition, dismantling, safety measures, test report results |
| Tier 3: Restricted | Recyclers, repairers, second-life operators | Annex XIII, points 2 and 4 (Art. 77(2)(c)) | Detailed composition, dismantling, SoH, usage data |
This model ensures that transparency and trade secret protection are not mutually exclusive. Only data relevant for purchasing decisions and sustainability assessments becomes public. Sensitive data remains behind access barriers.
Tier 1: Publicly Accessible Data
Tier 1 covers the data defined in point 1 of Annex XIII of the EU Battery Regulation. This information is accessible to anyone who scans the QR code on the battery or opens the battery passport URL. Think of this tier as the “nutrition label” of the battery: basic transparency for consumers, distributors, and the general public.
The following data categories belong to Tier 1:
- Manufacturer information: Name, trade name, and registered address of the manufacturer
- Battery identification: Battery type, model designation, batch or serial number
- Chemistry: Cathode and anode chemistry (e.g., NMC 811, LFP), electrolyte type
- Basic technical data: Rated capacity (Ah), rated voltage (V), weight (kg)
- CO₂ footprint: Carbon footprint per kWh across the lifecycle. The non-binding European Commission guidance of 28 July 2026 lists the carbon footprint declaration and the carbon footprint label as “not to be filled/displayed as of February 2027”, because their format is still to be set by an implementing act
- Recycled content: Percentage shares of recycled cobalt, lithium, nickel, and lead
- Labeling: Symbols, labels, and pictograms per Article 13
- Collection and recycling: Information on separate collection, recycling symbols
- Due diligence: Summary of supply chain due diligence measures
Tier 1 answers the question: What is this battery, how sustainable is it, and where does it come from? It provides baseline transparency, not trade secrets.
Important: The chemistry declaration at Tier 1 level describes the category (e.g., “Lithium-ion, NMC”), not the exact stoichiometric composition. The difference between “NMC 811” and the precise weight percentages of active materials is significant, and that level of detail falls under Tier 3.
Tier 2: Authorities Only
Points 2 and 3 of Annex XIII define the data accessible to market surveillance authorities, notified bodies, and the European Commission (Art. 77(2)(b)). This tier serves regulatory oversight, not market transparency.
Tier 2 data includes:
- Test report results: Proof of compliance with the requirements of the Regulation and of the delegated and implementing acts adopted under it (Annex XIII, point 3)
- Detailed composition: Materials used in the cathode, anode, and electrolyte (Annex XIII, point 2(a))
- Spare parts and dismantling: Part numbers of components, contact details of spare part suppliers and dismantling information such as exploded diagrams, disassembly sequences, fastening techniques and required tools (Annex XIII, point 2(b) and (c))
- Safety measures: the information required under Annex XIII, point 2(d)
The EU declaration of conformity under Article 18 is not part of this tier. Annex XIII, point 1(r) makes it publicly accessible. Annex XIII does not list separate technical documentation on Articles 6 to 10 at all: that belongs to the conformity assessment procedure under Annex VIII and stays with the manufacturer, together with the marking information under Article 13(3) and (4). There is also no separate “technical documentation” entry in Annex XIII, the technical documentation under Annex VIII goes to the notified body and the market surveillance authority outside the battery passport.
The test report results under point 3 are not accessible to end consumers, distributors, or recyclers. They exist solely so that authorities can verify whether a battery meets regulatory requirements during market surveillance activities. The point 2 data, by contrast, is also available to persons with a legitimate interest, which is what makes dismantling and recycling possible.
Tier 2 is the regulatory audit layer. Test reports reach neither competitors, nor customers, nor business partners through the battery passport.
Tier 3: Restricted Access
Points 2 and 4 of Annex XIII govern access for persons and organizations with “legitimate interest” (Art. 77(2)(c)). This primarily includes recycling companies, repair operators, remanufacturers, and second-life operators.
Who exactly qualifies as a “person with legitimate interest” will be defined by a Commission Implementing Act. Article 77(9) set the deadline at 18 August 2026; that date passed without the act being adopted. The regulation already names the basic categories in Article 77(2).
Tier 3 data includes:
- Detailed material composition: Precise specifications of cathode, anode, and electrolyte, beyond the category-level declaration from Tier 1
- Dismantling information: Step-by-step instructions for safe battery disassembly
- Safety protocols: Specific safety instructions for handling, transport, and storage
- State of Health (SoH): Current health status based on dynamic battery data from the BMS
- Usage history: Charge/discharge cycles, capacity progression over the lifespan
- Maintenance records: Documented maintenance, repairs, and software updates
Access to Tier 3 data is tied to proof of a legitimate interest. A recycling company must prove that it is actually engaged in battery recovery. A private consumer does not receive Tier 3 access, not even for their own battery.
For second-life applications, Tier 3 data is particularly critical: without SoH data and cycle history, the residual value of a used traction battery cannot be reliably assessed.
What's NOT in the Battery Passport?
Equally important as knowing what data the battery passport contains is understanding what it explicitly does not:
- Manufacturing processes: How the battery is made: process parameters, coating speeds, drying profiles
- Exact formulations: Precise formulations of electrolyte additives, binders, or coatings
- Pricing and calculations: Purchase prices, margins, manufacturing costs
- Supplier contracts: Contractual terms, sourcing arrangements, volume agreements
- Internal quality data: Scrap rates, process capability indices, internal test protocols
The battery passport documents what a battery is and what properties it has, not how it is manufactured. Trade secrets as defined by the EU Battery Regulation remain trade secrets.
IP Protection: Safeguarding Trade Secrets
The three-tier access model is deliberately designed to protect intellectual property. Several mechanisms contribute to this:
- Role-based access control (RBAC): Each access tier is bound to a verified role. Without proof of authorization, no access is granted.
- Data minimization: Each tier contains only the data necessary for its intended purpose. Recyclers don't need test reports; authorities don't need dismantling instructions.
- No raw data export: Restricted tiers are designed to enable access to specific information, not to allow downloading of complete datasets.
- Regulatory limitation: Only data explicitly required by the regulation must be provided. Information beyond that is voluntary.
The Commission Implementing Act under Art. 77(9), whose deadline of 18 August 2026 passed without adoption, will define the precise criteria for granting Tier 3 access. Until then, the regulation itself provides the framework: Article 77(2) names “natural or legal persons with a legitimate interest” as authorized parties, an intentionally narrow definition.
Static vs. Dynamic Data
Not all data in the battery passport behaves the same way. The DIN SPEC 99100 distinguishes between static and dynamic data, and this distinction has direct implications for the access tiers.
Static Data
Static data is identical for all units of a battery model. It is captured once during product registration and does not change over the battery's lifespan:
- Chemistry and material composition
- CO₂ footprint per kWh
- Recycled content
- Rated capacity, rated voltage, weight
- Manufacturer information
Static data primarily falls under Tier 1 (public): it describes the product, not the individual battery.
Dynamic Data
Dynamic data is unique to each battery and changes over its lifecycle. It typically originates from the battery management system (BMS):
- State of Health (SoH)
- Remaining capacity
- Charge/discharge cycles
- Capacity progression
- Operating temperature history
Dynamic data falls under Tier 3 (restricted). It is relevant for residual value assessment, second-life decisions, and safe recycling, but is not intended for the general public.
| Property | Static Data | Dynamic Data |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | All units of a model | Individual per battery |
| Capture | Once at registration | Ongoing from BMS |
| Examples | Chemistry, CO₂, weight | SoH, cycles, capacity fade |
| Access tier | Primarily Tier 1 (public) | Tier 3 (restricted) |
Who maintains the data across the battery's life
Responsibility is clearly assigned and travels with the battery. Article 77(4) puts it on the economic operator placing the battery on the market: they ensure the information in the passport is accurate, complete and up to date. They may authorise other actors in writing to act on their behalf, for example a service provider or a workshop partner. Verbal arrangements do not suffice.
Where a battery is prepared for re-use, repurposed or remanufactured, that responsibility passes under paragraph 7 to whoever places it on the market in this new form. And these batteries need a new battery passport linked to the passport of the original battery. A second-life storage system built from old vehicle modules is legally a new product with its own identifier, not the old passport with a changed status. Once the battery becomes waste, the duty passes to the producer or the producer responsibility organisation.
The Regulation does not express the update trigger as a deadline but as a state: the information has to be current. For dynamic fields such as state of health this means in practice that every change in the battery's status calls for an entry.
Where the data lives and how you reach it
A common misconception: the battery passport is not held by the EU. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778 states expressly that the digital product passport system is built on a decentralised model. Passport data stays with the economic operator or their service provider; the Commission's registry essentially stores the unique identifiers, commodity codes and a cryptographic hash of the respective passport version. Anyone wanting to see the passport gets there via the QR code on the battery or via the identifier to the data holder, not via an EU database holding all content.
This has two consequences for you. First, your data stays in your hands and in the infrastructure you chose. Second, you are answerable for its availability: if your data holder goes down, the passport is unreachable, and the registry does not help because the content is not there.
Besides the QR code, a second route is planned, and it does not run through the battery. Article 13 of the Ecodesign Regulation requires a registry holding at least the unique identifiers, expressly including the unique battery identifiers under Article 77(3). Article 14 adds a publicly accessible web portal where stakeholders can search and compare passport data according to their respective access rights; it points to the decentrally stored data rather than collecting it. For you that means: the passport stays with you, but in future it will also be findable without your code.
How is legitimate interest actually verified?
The honest answer: that is not settled yet. Article 77(9) obliges the Commission to adopt, by 18 August 2026, an implementing act determining which persons count as persons with a legitimate interest, which information they may access, and to what extent they may download, share, publish and re-use it. That deadline has passed without the act being adopted.
While this remains open, nobody can credibly offer a finished verification mechanism for tier 2 and tier 4. Anyone promising one today does not know what it will later be measured against. You can still prepare sensibly: separate your fields cleanly along the four groups of Annex XIII, so that later you only have to switch on the access rule instead of rebuilding your data storage.
Where trade secret protection actually applies
One piece of advice going around says: publish ranges or aggregated values instead of exact figures, and your trade secret stays protected. For the battery passport that is not true. Annex XIII sets out field by field what is public and what only persons with a legitimate interest may see; aggregation as a substitute for a required individual value is not provided for. Rounding there does not fulfill the duty.
Where consideration for trade secrets is written down is the due diligence part: under Article 52(2) the economic operator makes the information available to its downstream purchasers while giving due regard to the protection of business secrets and other competition concerns, and paragraph 3 repeats that for the annual public report. The protection therefore covers the supply chain report, not the mandatory passport fields. That distinction is the whole difference between permissible restraint and a missing entry.
The second version of the same idea is to hold back your own measurements and calculate with database averages instead. For the battery-specific parts that route is closed too. Annex II point 5 requires all activity data for the anode, cathode, electrolyte, separator and cell casing to relate to a specific battery model made in a specific production plant, and states plainly that no default activity data may be used. Data from different plants building the same model may not be mixed. The definitions close the back door as well: primary data that has gone through a horizontal aggregation step counts as secondary data.
The price of missing primary data is set out in Article 7(2). Electric vehicle batteries, LMT batteries and rechargeable industrial batteries above 2 kWh carry a label showing the carbon footprint and the performance class the model falls into per manufacturing plant. Calculate with industry averages and you get the average result, not your plant's. A good production line that never measures its own numbers gives away exactly the advantage it has.
Practical Implementation with DPP Hero
The access model of the EU Battery Regulation creates concrete requirements for software solutions. DPP Hero implements the data structure of the DIN SPEC 99100 and maps the three access tiers as follows:
- Public product page (Tier 1): Every published product receives a publicly accessible page with all Tier 1 data, accessible via QR code or direct link.
- Structured export (Tier 2): For authority inquiries, product data can be exported in the structured JSON format per DIN SPEC 99100, covering all 7 data categories.
- Restricted data (Tier 3): Dismantling information, detailed material compositions, and dynamic data are captured in the corresponding data categories. The public product page displays only Tier 1 data, restricted fields are clearly marked as locked.
The step-by-step guide shows how to create a complete battery passport with all data categories. DPP Hero's 7-step structure directly follows the layout of DIN SPEC 99100: from identification (Step 1) through materials, carbon footprint, due diligence, and circularity to performance and labeling.
The accuracy duty, and how to transfer it
A passport is not a document you hand in once. Article 77(4) requires the economic operator placing the battery on the market to ensure the information in the passport is correct, complete and up to date. That holds for the whole time the passport exists, not just on the day of publication.
The same paragraph names the way out: they “may authorise other actors in writing to act on their behalf”. In practice that is the vehicle or appliance manufacturer installing the battery, or a service provider maintaining the passport data. The word that matters is in writing: a verbal arrangement does not do, and the responsibility itself does not travel with it. It stays with whoever placed the battery on the market.
Article 78 draws the technical consequence: passport data is stored by the responsible operator or by the authorised actors, and the passport must remain available even where the responsible operator ceases to exist. So if you transfer the upkeep, settle in the contract what happens to the data when the cooperation ends.
Repurposing and second life: a new passport
When a battery gets a second life, for example as stationary storage, the old passport does not simply travel with it. Article 77(7) is explicit here: batteries prepared for re-use or repurposing, repurposed, or remanufactured must have a new battery passport that is linked to the passport of the original battery.
Three practical consequences follow:
- New identifier, new QR code. Under paragraph 3, the passport is reachable through the QR code linked to the unique identifier assigned to the battery by the economic operator placing it on the market. A new passport therefore needs its own identifier, and with it its own code on the battery. The old passport does not disappear; it remains the linked predecessor.
- Responsibility moves. The paragraph 4 duty to keep the information accurate, complete and up to date transfers to the economic operator that placed the repurposed battery on the market or put it into service. Whoever repurposes becomes the passport holder and cannot point back at the original manufacturer.
- Once the battery becomes waste, the same duty passes to the producer, to the producer responsibility organizations designated under Article 57(1), or to the waste management operators selected under Article 57(8). Once the battery has been recycled, paragraph 8 requires the passport to be deleted.
For access rights this is the actual reason tier 3 exists: the criteria in Article 77(9) explicitly name assessing the battery's state and residual value and choosing between re-use, repurposing, remanufacturing and recycling. Anyone planning a second life needs the data from the first round, and that is what the restricted tier is for.
What happens in case of violations
Anyone who fails to meet the passport and access obligations risks penalties under Article 93 of the EU Battery Regulation. The regulation requires penalties to be effective, proportionate and dissuasive; the specific amounts are set by each member state, and the rules had to be in place by 18 August 2025. For details on the possible consequences and who enforces them, read our guide Penalties for non-compliance.
FAQ
Can competitors access my battery data?
Competitors only see Tier 1 data, basic specifications such as chemistry category, CO₂ footprint, and recycled content. Detailed material composition (Tier 3) and test reports (Tier 2) are not accessible to competitors. Manufacturing processes, formulations, and supplier relationships are not part of the battery passport.
What data do recycling companies see?
Recyclers belong to the Tier 3 access level and receive access to detailed material compositions, dismantling information, and safety protocols. This data is necessary to safely and efficiently recover batteries. The exact scope will be specified by the Commission Implementing Act, which was due on 18 August 2026 and has not been adopted.
How is access to restricted data controlled?
Article 78 of the EU Battery Regulation ties access to the access rights set out in Annex XIII and in the Implementing Act under Article 77(9). Only persons and organizations with “legitimate interest” receive Tier 3 access. The technical procedure, whether through digital certificates, verified accounts, or other mechanisms, will be specified in the Implementing Act.
Are the access tiers already binding?
The EU Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 has been in force since August 2023. The battery passport obligation under Article 77 applies from 18 February 2027 for certain battery types. The deadline for the Implementing Act on access rights (Tier 3) was 18 August 2026. It passed without the Commission adopting the act; according to the Commission's own planning, adoption is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2026 (as of 21 August 2026).
What happens to my data when I use DPP Hero?
DPP Hero is a creation and management tool for digital product passports. You retain full control over your product data. The public product page displays only Tier 1 data. Which additional data you capture and to whom you grant access is your decision as the economic operator.
