A battery product in packaging: the three EU regimes that apply at once
Every guide you will find covers one regime. But if you sell a product that contains a battery, shipped in packaging, into the EU from outside it, three regimes bind you simultaneously, plus a fourth for consumer goods. Which they are, what each demands, and the order to tackle them in.
Reference material, not legal advice. Each answer names the regulation and article it rests on, with the date it was verified.
The three regimes
Which rules apply to my battery product at the same time? three, plus one
Packaging EPR with its per-country authorised representative (the PPWR), the battery manufacturer duties under
Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 Article 38 — Article 41 binds your EU-established importer, not you — and battery EPR registration in every member state you sell into. If it is a consumer product, GPSR adds its Responsible Person on top. The regimes do not cancel each other out; each has its own registration, its own duties and its own enforcement.
Full answer — the grounds, the numbers, the pitfalls
| Regime | What it covers | Key duty for you | Since |
|---|
| Packaging EPR (PPWR) | The box, the foam, the wrap | Register per member state; authorised representative per state if you are not established there (Article 45) | AR from 12 August 2026 |
| Battery Regulation 2023/1542 | The battery itself | Manufacturer duties (Article 38) or an EU authorised representative (Article 40); Article 41 binds your EU-established importer, not you | Phasing in through 2027 |
| Battery EPR | The battery at end of life | Producer registration per member state before the first sale; marketplaces check the number | Checks from 18 August 2025 |
| GPSR (consumer goods) | The product as sold to consumers | EU Responsible Person, labelling, ten-year technical file | 13 December 2024 |
Why this page exists: sellers get suspended by marketplaces for one missing registration while holding two others, because each guide they read covered a different single regime.
Do I need a packaging authorised representative in every country? yes, from August 2026
Yes, if you are established outside the EU: from 12 August 2026 the PPWR requires a written mandate in every member state where you supply end users directly. Article 45(3) makes this binding on producers under Article 3(1)(15)(c) and (d), which both say “directly to end users”, so it catches distance and D2C selling. Sell B2B to an EU importer instead and that importer is the producer; for other third-country producers each member state may extend the mandate itself (“Member States may provide …”). Sell direct into eight countries, appoint eight. The suspension you may have read about applies only to producers established inside the EU.
Full answer — the grounds, the numbers, the pitfalls
This is the clause sellers miss because the headlines said 'suspended': the Commission proposed deferring Article 45 for EU-established producers, not for sellers shipping in from outside. The mandate must be in writing and covers your packaging obligations in that state.
Source: Regulation (EU) 2025/40 Article 45(1) and (3); Article 3(1)(15)(c) and (d); PPWR Article 71 (applies from 12 August 2026); Commission proposal COM(2025) 982, which would suspend Article 45(3) until 1 January 2035 for EU-established producers only and is not yet adopted.
Checked: 5 September 2026.
Who carries the Battery Regulation duties: me or my EU importer? your EU importer
Article 41 is titled “Obligations of importers”, and Article 3 defines an importer as a person established within the Union who places a battery from a third country on the market. If you ship in from outside the EU, Article 41 lands on your EU importer, not on you; your own duties are the manufacturer duties of Article 38, or Article 40 if you appoint an EU authorised representative. What Article 41 then demands of that importer: before placing, verify the CE marking, the technical documentation, the labelling and the manufacturer's identity. On the product: their own name and address. After: keep the documentation ten years and cooperate with market surveillance. It is the same importer logic every CE act uses, now applied to batteries.
Full answer — the grounds, the numbers, the pitfalls
- Labelling phases in through 2026–2027: capacity, chemistry, separate-collection symbol, and later the QR-coded information.
- A non-EU manufacturer may appoint an EU authorised representative (Article 40) by written mandate; Article 41 stays with whoever is established in the Union and places the battery on the market, so it is yours only if that is you.
- The battery passport (18 February 2027) covers every LMT battery and every EV battery with no capacity threshold at all, plus industrial batteries with a capacity greater than 2 kWh (Article 77(1)); the 2 kWh applies to industrial batteries only. An e-bike or e-scooter battery is an LMT battery and is in scope. Portable consumer batteries stay out for now. See the passport page.
Source: Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 Article 41, Article 13 and Annex VI labelling; Article 77 passport.
Checked: 5 September 2026.
The battery EPR registration: whose job is mine? before the first sale
Distance sellers are deemed producers: register in every member state you sell into, before the first sale, exactly like packaging EPR. Marketplaces have been checking battery numbers since 18 August 2025 and suspend listings without them.
Full answer — the grounds, the numbers, the pitfalls
The registration is national (Germany Stiftung EAR, France, and so on), the schemes charge per tonne placed on the market, and the take-back symbol must be on the product. If you already handle packaging EPR, expect the battery register in the same countries, separately.
Article 56(3) adds the piece most sellers miss: a distance seller under Article 3(1)(47)(d) must appoint an authorised representative for extended producer responsibility, by written mandate, in every member state where it sells batteries — the same construction as the packaging mandate, in a separate register.
Source: Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 Article 3(1)(47)(d) (a distance seller established outside the member state is the producer), Article 55 (register of producers), Article 56 (extended producer responsibility) and Article 62(6) (online platforms must obtain the registration number and a self-certification); Chapter VIII applies from 18 August 2025 under Article 96(2)(c).
Checked: 5 September 2026.
In which order do I tackle this? the working sequence
GPSR first (nothing sells without the Responsible Person), then battery EPR and packaging EPR registrations per country, then the checks your EU-established importer has to pass on the goods themselves (Article 41 binds him, not you), then the written mandates where a mandate is required. Verification dates on everything.
Full answer — the grounds, the numbers, the pitfalls
- GPSR Responsible Person: without it, listings die first. The fifteen checks.
- Registers before the first sale: packaging and battery EPR per member state; the product check counts your countries.
- Goods checks your EU importer must pass: Article 41 puts these on the importer — an operator established in the Union under Article 3(1), point (64) — not on you as the non-EU seller. He verifies the documentation and labelling and puts his name and address on the battery (Article 41(3)). What you owe him is the paperwork that lets him do it.
- The paperwork: a written mandate where one is required — compulsory under PPWR Article 45(3) if you supply end users in a member state directly, a member-state option otherwise, dated screening of your suppliers with the free check, and a calendar for the 2027 dates.
Source: the regulations cited above; enforcement practice of marketplaces. Checked: 5 September 2026.