Battery Regulation Obligations by Role: Manufacturers, Producers, Importers, Distributors and Representatives

The Regulation is directly applicable, so the role duties bind companies without national transposition. Articles 38 to 43 set the product duties of the Chapter VI roles and Articles 55 to 57 those of producers, which makes the roles the operational core of the EU Battery Regulation.

The sections below define the economic operator and its trigger terms, index the seven role guides and separate the two role systems. They then cover combined roles, shared duties, application dates and the EU operator for batteries made outside the Union.

What Is an Economic Operator under the Battery Regulation?

An economic operator is the manufacturer, the authorised representative, the importer, the distributor, the fulfilment service provider or any other person subject to obligations under Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 for the manufacture, re-use, repurposing or remanufacturing of batteries, for making them available or placing them on the market, including online, or for putting them into service (Article 3(1), point (22)). The list is open.

The open clause reaches beyond the five named roles: cell and module suppliers give manufacturers the information and documentation needed for compliance free of charge (Article 39), and producers carry the Chapter VIII duties. The duties also depend on which of the five battery categories a battery belongs to.

The role follows from the article text, not from how a company describes itself. A firm bringing batteries from a third country is tested against the importer definition, and an own-brand seller against the manufacturer definition, whatever its contracts say.

Placing on the Market, Making Available and Putting into Service

Three terms defined in Article 3(1) decide when a duty starts. Placing on the market is "the first making available of a battery on the Union market" (point (16)).

Putting into service is "the first use, for its intended purpose, in the Union, of a battery, without having been previously placed on the market" (point (18)).

Making available is "any supply of a battery for distribution or use on the Union market in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge" (point (17)).

The first supply on the Union market decides who is the importer and who is a distributor; other terms are explained under Battery Regulation definitions.

The Seven Operator Roles and Their Guides

Seven role guides cover the Battery Regulation in detail: manufacturers, producers, importers, distributors, authorised representatives, online sellers with marketplaces and fulfilment service providers, and non-EU manufacturers.

Each row gives the Article 3(1) point that defines the role, the main articles and the date from which its duties apply. A company checks every row that matches one of its activities, since one company can hold two or more roles at the same time.

Table 1: Article 3(1) and Chapters VI and VIII Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, as of 13 November 2026.

Need help with the obligations of your role? Where your role sits among the other duties is set out under how to comply with the EU Battery Regulation.

Two Role Systems: Union Market Duties and Member State Duties

The Battery Regulation runs two role systems side by side: Chapter VI sets the product duties of manufacturers, authorised representatives, importers, distributors and fulfilment service providers on the Union market from 18 August 2024, and Chapter VIII sets the extended producer responsibility of producers in each Member State from 18 August 2025 (Article 96(2)(b) and (c)).

In the product system, the manufacturer draws up the technical documentation, carries out the Article 17 conformity assessment, draws up the EU declaration of conformity and affixes the CE marking (Article 38(2) and (3)). The procedures are set out under battery conformity assessment.

In the producer system, a producer registers in each Member State where it first makes a battery available, and only registered producers may make batteries available there (Article 55(2)). The registration number is granted within a maximum of 12 weeks of complete information (Article 55(9)(b)).

Distributors link the two systems: before making a battery available, they verify that the producer is registered (Article 42(2)(a)), and they take back waste batteries free of charge (Article 62(1)). Online platforms obtain register details and a self-certification from producers (Article 62(6)).

The extended producer responsibility costs under Article 56(4) include separate collection, transport and treatment net of revenues, compositional surveys, information on waste batteries (Article 74) and data gathering and reporting (Article 75). The per-country procedure is under battery producer registration.

Table 2 lists the operator obligations article by article.

Table 2: Chapters VI to VIII Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, as of 13 November 2026.

How Roles Combine and Change

One company often holds several roles at once: an importer that first supplies batteries in a Member State is also the producer there (Article 3(1), point (47)(c)), and a distributor that sells under its own brand becomes both manufacturer and producer.

Manufacturer and producer are separate roles: the manufacturer (Article 3(1), point (33)) answers for the product under Chapter VI, and the producer (point (47)) for its waste in each Member State under Chapter VIII. The German text calls the manufacturer Erzeuger and the producer Hersteller, so Hersteller never translates manufacturer.

Operators that prepare batteries for re-use or repurposing, repurpose or remanufacture them and place the result on the market are manufacturers (Article 38(11)), with quality control duties under Article 45. The first to make such a battery available in a Member State is its producer (Article 56(2)), as explained for second-life batteries.

When an Importer or Distributor Takes On Manufacturer Duties

An importer or distributor takes on the manufacturer's obligations in three cases under Article 44: when it (a) places a battery on the market under its own name or trademark, (b) modifies a battery so that compliance with the Regulation could be affected, or (c) modifies the purpose of a battery.

It then carries every Article 38 duty, from design and labelling (Article 38(1)) to the CE marking. It keeps the technical documentation and the EU declaration of conformity for 10 years (Article 38(4)) and puts its own name and contact details on the battery (Article 38(7)).

Duties Every Economic Operator Shares

Every economic operator identifies, on request, the operators that supplied it with a battery and those it supplied, and keeps that information for 10 years after being supplied and after supplying the battery (Article 46).

Battery due diligence applies from 18 August 2027 (Article 48(1), as amended by Regulation (EU) 2025/1561) to operators placing batteries on the market or putting them into service, except those below EUR 40,000,000 net turnover, tested for operator and group (Article 47). Policy, verification and report are set out under battery due diligence.

The Commission proposal COM(2025) 501 of 21 May 2025 would raise the Article 47 threshold to EUR 150,000,000. It is pending: as of 13 November 2026, the agreed text was approved in committee on 2 July 2026, with an indicative plenary date of 23 November 2026 (procedure 2025/0130(COD)).

From When the Operator Obligations Apply

Operator obligations apply in two steps: Chapter VI and Article 17 from 18 August 2024 (Article 96(2)(b)) and Chapter VIII from 18 August 2025 (Article 96(2)(c)), while the Regulation itself entered into force on 17 August 2023 and has applied generally since 18 February 2024.

Member States had to lay down the rules on penalties by 18 August 2025 (Article 93), so fines and their amounts come from national law, not from the Regulation. Every date of the act is listed on the EU Battery Regulation timeline.

One later duty falls on the operator placing the battery on the market: the battery passport, from 18 February 2027, for each LMT battery, each industrial battery with a capacity greater than 2 kWh and each electric vehicle battery (Article 77(1)). That operator is responsible for the passport (Article 77(4)).

Stock is protected: batteries placed in stock in the Union by distributors before the date of application of relevant requirements do not need to meet those requirements (recital 11). The relief covers distributor stock only, not manufacturers or importers placing batteries afterwards.

Non-EU Makers and the EU Responsible Operator

A battery from a non-EU manufacturer may be placed on the market only if an economic operator established in the Union is responsible for it: the importer, an authorised representative with a written mandate or, where none of these is established in the Union, an EU fulfilment service provider (Article 4(1), (2) and (5) Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, as amended by Article 91 Regulation (EU) 2023/1542).

That operator's contact details appear on the battery, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document (Article 4(4) Regulation (EU) 2019/1020). Customs suspend release where, among other cases, the documentation, correct marking or the responsible operator's name is missing (Article 26(1)).

A non-EU producer selling directly to end-users is a producer under Article 3(1), point (47)(d), and must appoint an EPR authorised representative by written mandate in each Member State of sale (Article 56(3)). That duty applies unchanged as of 13 November 2026; the Commission proposal COM(2025) 982 would suspend it until 1 January 2035.

The proposal is pending: after a partial first-reading vote on 20 October 2026, the European Parliament referred it back to committee for interinstitutional negotiations. The Council's mandate of 21 October 2026 (ST 14765/26) deletes the batteries article. The proposal is tracked under Battery Regulation amendments.

Operator Roles FAQ

Four questions come up when a role meets online selling, equipment making or representation; each answer gives the article behind it.

Common Questions on Operator Roles

Each answer names the role and the article that sets the duty.

Must an online platform check a seller's producer registration?

Yes: since 18 August 2025, an online platform that allows consumers to conclude distance contracts with producers obtains each producer's register details, registration number and a self-certification (Article 62(6)). Where the register is not public, Member States give platforms free access to it (Article 55(13)).

Does an equipment maker that buys batteries hold a role?

Yes: batteries incorporated in appliances, LMT or other vehicles count in every case of the producer definition, so an equipment maker meeting one of the cases (a) to (d) is their producer in that Member State (Article 3(1), point (47)). The equipment view is under batteries in appliances, tools and vehicles.

Does a fulfilment service provider have obligations?

Yes: it ensures that warehousing, packaging, addressing or dispatching does not jeopardise compliance with Articles 6 to 10, 12, 13 and 14, and carries out the tasks of Article 40(3)(c) and 40(4) (Article 43). It offers at least two of these services without owning the products.

Is an authorised representative mandatory for every manufacturer?

No: a product-law authorised representative is optional (Article 40(1)) and cannot take over Article 38(1), Articles 48 to 52 or drawing up the technical documentation (Article 40(2)). An EPR authorised representative is mandatory only for producers under Article 3(1), point (47)(d) (Article 56(3)).