EU Battery Regulation Timeline: Every Application Date from 2023 to 2036

The next fixed milestone, 18 February 2027, brings removability, the QR code and the battery passport.

The act is Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 concerning batteries and waste batteries (OJ L 191, 28.7.2023). It is directly applicable and replaced Directive 2006/66/EC, repealed with effect from 18 August 2025 (Article 95). Every date below belongs to the EU Battery Regulation itself, not to national law.

Three kinds of date run through the Regulation: fixed calendar dates, conditional dates that wait for a Commission delegated or implementing act, and deadlines for the Commission and the member states. Every status below is stated as of 13 November 2026.

When Did the EU Battery Regulation Enter into Force and Apply?

Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 entered into force on 17 August 2023, the twentieth day after its publication in the Official Journal on 28 July 2023, under Article 96(1). The act was signed on 12 July 2023; 28 July is the publication date (Official Journal text on EUR-Lex).

General application followed on 18 February 2024 under Article 96(2). As a regulation, it needs no transposition: it binds operators directly, while member states add penalties and authorities. Article 96 and the chapters it staggers are explained with the Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 text.

The Staggered Dates of Article 96(2)

Article 96(2) delays three parts of the Regulation: Article 17 and Chapter VI from 18 August 2024, Chapter VIII from 18 August 2025 and Article 11 from 18 February 2027. Chapter VI holds the obligations of economic operators (Articles 38 to 46), Chapter VIII extended producer responsibility and waste batteries.

Article 17(2), which requires a notified body for the carbon footprint and recycled content rules of Articles 7 and 8, applies 12 months after the first publication of the notified-body list under Article 30(2). Its start runs from that publication, not from the calendar; every other date sits in the article that sets it.

Master Timeline: Every Dated Obligation from 2023 to 2036

The table lists every dated obligation and deadline of the Regulation in date order, with the provision that sets it, the batteries or addressees concerned and its status as of 13 November 2026. Conditional rows keep their full formula, and target rows link to the pages that own the figures.

Showing 17 of 17

Table 1: Dates of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 and its amending and implementing acts.

How "Whichever Is the Latest" Dates Work

Obligations under Articles 7, 8, 9, 10 and 13 apply from a fixed date or a number of months after a Commission delegated or implementing act enters into force, whichever is the latest, so they start only on the later of the two dates. The fixed date is a floor, not a start date.

Without the secondary act the obligation does not apply, because the months run only from the act's entry into force. No calendar date can be calculated before the act is published in the Official Journal, and a fixed date that passes without it cannot serve as the application date on its own.

The formula appears in Article 7(1) to (3) for the carbon footprint, Article 8(1) for recycled content documentation, Articles 9(1), 10(2) and 10(3) for performance and Article 13(1) to (3) for the general labels. The table sets out each obligation with its act, and the status of all battery regulation implementing acts is tracked separately.

Conditional Dates Not Yet Triggered as of 13 November 2026

As of 13 November 2026 none of these conditional obligations applies, because the Commission has not adopted the carbon footprint, labelling, recycled content or performance acts they depend on. The adopted acts, Delegated Regulations (EU) 2025/606 and 2026/1770 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2289, start no conditional clock.

Drafts exist for the labelling act (Ares(2025)11169592, Have Your Say initiative 14456), the EV carbon footprint acts (initiatives 13877 and 13878), the recycled content methodology (Ares(2026)7823470) and the industrial minimum values (Ares(2026)9188325). A draft binds no one until the act is adopted.

Four conditional obligations have already passed their fixed date without starting: the EV declaration (18 February 2025), the industrial declaration (18 February 2026), and the general labels and the EV performance class (both 18 August 2026). Each now starts only when its act enters into force and the 12 or 18 months have run.

What Already Applies: The 2024 and 2025 Dates

Since 18 August 2024 the conformity assessment of Article 17 and the economic-operator obligations of Chapter VI have applied, together with the performance documentation of Article 10(1), stationary storage safety under Article 12, battery management system data under Article 14 and the 0.01 % lead limit for portable batteries.

Two acts changed the picture in 2025. Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/606, the recycling efficiency methodology under Article 71(4), entered into force on 24 July 2025. Regulation (EU) 2025/1561, adopted on 18 July 2025 and in force since 31 July 2025, moved the due diligence start from 18 August 2025 to 18 August 2027.

On 18 August 2025 Chapter VIII started under Article 96(2)(c). Producers register in each member state of first making available (Article 55(2)) and carry extended producer responsibility (Article 56); distributors take back waste batteries free of charge (Article 62(1)). The separate collection symbol of Article 13(4) became mandatory on every battery that day.

Article 95 repealed Directive 2006/66/EC on the same day, with three survivals: Article 11 until 18 February 2027, Article 12(4) and (5) until 31 December 2025 (data transmission until 30 June 2027) and Article 21(2) capacity labelling until 18 August 2026. The transition from the Batteries Directive 2006/66/EC is covered separately.

What Changes in 2026

In 2026 the fixed-date changes come from amending and implementing acts: the replaced Annex I from 13 August 2026, the harmonised standard EN 18060:2025 from 16 September 2026, the new Article 11(2) derogations from 11 November 2026 and the battery waste codes from 9 December 2026. The waste codes come from Delegated Decision (EU) 2025/934 under Directive 2008/98/EC.

Article 53 of Regulation (EU) 2026/1738 replaced Annex I with effect from 13 August 2026. It keeps the earlier limits and adds lines for batteries in M1 and N1 vehicles: cadmium 0.01 %, lead 0.1 % and hexavalent chromium 0.1 % by weight in homogeneous material, as covered under restricted substances in batteries.

On 18 August 2026 the Directive's capacity labelling rule ended, while the general labels and the EV performance class stayed conditional.

Deadlines for the Article 8(1) recycled content methodology and the Article 77(9) passport access act passed without adoption; the Article 77(9) draft, Ares(2026)9814179, was published on 19 October 2026 with feedback open until 16 November 2026.

The 18 February 2027 Milestone and the Rest of 2027

On 18 February 2027 three obligations start together: removability and replaceability under Article 11, the QR code on every battery under Article 13(6) and the battery passport under Article 77(1).

Portable batteries must be removable and replaceable by the end-user (Article 11(1)), LMT batteries and cells by an independent professional (Article 11(5)); see removability and replaceability.

The passport covers each LMT battery, each industrial battery with a capacity greater than 2 kWh and each electric vehicle battery. The QR code reaches all categories, but what it opens differs: the passport for those three groups, and the Article 13 information, the EU declaration of conformity and waste information for the others.

The first Article 75 reports, covering 2026, are due by 30 June 2027, the day the Directive's data transmission ends. The Commission's power to set the collection-rate methodology under Articles 59(7) and 60(8) ends on 18 August 2027; that act is planned for the third quarter of 2027 (initiative 18668).

Due diligence under Article 48(1), as amended by Regulation (EU) 2025/1561, applies from 18 August 2027, with the EUR 40 000 000 net turnover threshold of Article 47. By 31 December 2027 the portable collection target reaches 63 %. Policies and audits are covered under battery due diligence.

Long-Term Dates: 2028 to 2036

From 2028 the remaining dates are mostly conditional or long-run targets: the zinc-air button cell exemption from the lead limit ends on 18 August 2028, and recycled content documentation, performance minimums and the LMT carbon footprint declaration depend on acts not yet adopted. Portable and LMT performance minimums share that fixed date.

LMT batteries reach a 51 % collection target by 31 December 2028 (Article 60(3)), when the Commission assesses recovered-material availability (Article 8(5)).

By 31 December 2030 the portable target reaches 73 % and the Commission assesses phasing out non-rechargeable portable batteries of general use (Article 9(3)). The general review report follows by 30 June 2031 (Article 94(1)).

Minimum recycled content starts on 18 August 2031 at 16 % cobalt, 85 % lead, 6 % lithium and 6 % nickel (Article 8(2)). From 18 August 2036 the shares rise to 26 %, 85 %, 12 % and 15 %, LMT batteries included (Article 8(3)), the last date covered by the recycled content requirements.

Commission Deadlines Behind the Dates

Statutory deadlines on five dates passed without the Commission act they required, and the missing methodology, format and values acts hold the conditional dates back. The five dates, as of 13 November 2026, are listed below.

• 18 February 2024: EV carbon footprint methodology and format (Article 7(1)).
• 18 February 2025: industrial methodology and format (Article 7(1)); EV performance classes (Article 7(2)).
• 18 August 2025: labelling (Article 13(10)).
• 18 February 2026: industrial minimum values (Article 10(5)).
• 18 August 2026: recycled content methodology (Article 8(1)), industrial performance classes (Article 7(2)), EV threshold (Article 7(3)), passport access (Article 77(9)).

The Article 94(4) assessment of Chapter VII was due by 25 July 2025, 12 months after the corporate sustainability due diligence directive, Directive (EU) 2024/1760, entered into force on 25 July 2024. The delegated powers run for five years to 17 August 2028 and are tacitly extended (Article 89(2)).

Member State Deadlines and National Dates

Member states had to lay down penalty rules by 18 August 2025 under Article 93 and notify their competent authorities to the Commission by 18 November 2025 under Article 54(4). The first compositional survey under Article 69(5) was due by 1 January 2026; national acts are listed under EU Battery Regulation by country.

The Commission's list of competent authorities under Article 54, last updated on 31 May 2026 and checked on 13 November 2026, has no entry for Croatia, Poland, Portugal or Romania. Penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive; the Regulation sets no fine amount of its own.

How to Prepare for the Next Dates

Preparing for the timeline means mapping each date to your battery category and your role, because the same day can bind a manufacturer and leave a distributor untouched. The six steps below turn the dates into tasks.

1. Confirm which battery category applies.
2. Map the obligations by role of manufacturers, importers, distributors and producers.
3. Mark 18 February 2027 and 18 August 2027.
4. Track the secondary acts in the conditional table.
5. Check battery producer registration in each member state of first making available.
6. Plan Article 17(2) conformity assessment with notified bodies for Articles 7 and 8.

Recital 11 protects stock: batteries placed in stock in the Union by distributors before the date of application of a requirement do not need to meet that requirement. This page orders the duties by date, while the EU Battery Regulation checklist sorts them by role and battery category.

Need help preparing for the next battery regulation date? The full sequence by role and category is set out under battery regulation compliance programme.

Pending Proposals That Could Move a Date

A date changes only when an amending act is published in the Official Journal, as Regulation (EU) 2025/1561 did for due diligence in July 2025; as of 13 November 2026 four Commission proposals that would amend dated battery rules are pending.

COM(2025) 501 (procedure 2025/0130(COD)) and COM(2025) 504 (2025/0134(COD)) had agreed texts approved in Parliament committee on 2 July and 14 July 2026, indicative plenary 23 November 2026. COM(2025) 981 (2025/0397(COD)) awaits a committee decision, indicative plenary 14 December 2026, and does not amend Articles 7, 8 or 13.

COM(2025) 982 (2025/0395(COD)) would suspend Article 56(3), the EPR authorised representative duty, until 1 January 2035. Parliament held a partial vote on 20 October 2026 and referred it back to committee, and the Council mandate of 21 October 2026 removes batteries; Article 56(3) applies unchanged, as tracked under battery regulation amendments and omnibus proposals.

Timeline Questions

Five questions recur about when the Regulation and its parts apply.

Is the EU Battery Regulation already in force?

Yes: Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 has been in force since 17 August 2023 (Article 96(1)) and has applied since 18 February 2024 (Article 96(2)). Later dates of Article 96(2) cover Article 17, Chapters VI and VIII and Article 11.

Has the 18 February 2027 passport date moved?

No: as of 13 November 2026 no adopted act and no Commission proposal changes 18 February 2027, the date from which Article 77(1) requires a passport. Which batteries need one is explained on the EU battery passport page.

Have the general battery labels applied since 18 August 2026?

No: the labels of Article 13(1) to (3) apply from 18 August 2026 or 18 months after the entry into force of the implementing act under Article 13(10), whichever is the latest, and that act had not been adopted as of 13 November 2026.

When do the Chapter VII supply-chain obligations apply?

From 18 August 2027: Regulation (EU) 2025/1561 moved the start of Article 48(1) from 18 August 2025. The obligations are subject to the net turnover threshold of EUR 40 000 000 in Article 47, which also counts the group.

Must batteries already in stock meet a date that applies later?

No: recital 11 states that batteries placed in stock in the Union by distributors before the date of application of a requirement do not need to meet that requirement. Batteries placed on the market from that date must meet it, as explained under distributor obligations.