The Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 is a sector-specific regulation that governs batteries throughout their life cycle. The ESPR (EU) 2024/1781 (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation) is framework legislation covering almost all physical products on the EU market.
For the battery industry, the relationship is clear: the Battery Regulation takes precedence as the specific law (lex specialis), and it is the one companies primarily have to comply with. The ESPR acts as a safety net that only applies if the Battery Regulation does not cover a specific sustainability aspect.
ESPR: the horizontal framework
The ESPR was adopted on 13 June 2024, entered into force on 18 July 2024 and replaces the previous Ecodesign Directive (2009/125/EC). Where the old directive mainly covered energy-related products, the ESPR extends the scope to almost all physical goods placed on the EU market.
The ESPR is framework legislation. It does not set immediate detailed requirements for all products, but establishes a legal platform that empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts with specific requirements for individual product groups.
The first priority groups include iron and steel, aluminium, textiles, furniture, tyres, electronics and paints.
The most important ESPR requirements are:
- Digital Product Passports (DPP)
- Ecodesign requirements for durability, repairability and recyclability
- Information requirements on substances of concern
- A ban on the destruction of unsold consumer products
The Battery Regulation: the sector-specific law
The Battery Regulation was adopted in July 2023 and has applied since February 2024. It is groundbreaking because it is the first EU legislation to govern the whole life cycle of a product in one single regulation: from raw material extraction and design to collection and recycling.
The regulation defines five battery categories and introduces requirements for carbon footprint declarations, the digital battery passport, due diligence, recycled content, performance, labelling and extended producer responsibility.
The requirements are far more detailed and specific than anything expected under the ESPR for other product groups in the coming years.
The legal architecture: lex specialis
The central question for compliance managers is whether batteries are covered by both sets of rules.
Batteries are not explicitly excluded from the general scope of the ESPR. But Article 1(3) of the ESPR states that the ESPR does not apply where environmental sustainability aspects are already addressed in other EU legislation, unless that legislation does not cover all aspects sufficiently.
As the Battery Regulation is a very detailed sector-specific act, it is regarded as the primary legislation for batteries under the lex specialis principle.
To remove any doubt, Article 78 of the ESPR contains a direct amendment to the Battery Regulation. This article states that the battery passport's unique identifier must be uploaded to the central DPP registry established under the ESPR.
So batteries are technically linked to the ESPR infrastructure, but the requirements for the battery itself and its passport are dictated by the Battery Regulation.
The Commission has emphasised that the ESPR acts as a "safety net". If the Battery Regulation is at some point found not to cover a specific sustainability aspect, such as a new horizontal requirement on water use, the ESPR could in theory fill the gap.
In the current situation, battery companies must primarily comply with the Battery Regulation.
The battery passport vs. the ESPR digital product passport
Both regulations require a digital product passport, and that causes confusion. But the relationship is simple.
The battery passport (Article 77 of the Battery Regulation) is the first concrete implementation of a DPP under EU legislation. It requires an extremely high data granularity: more than 90 data points on the battery's chemistry, performance, carbon footprint, due diligence and dynamic data such as State of Health.
The general DPP requirements of the ESPR (Articles 9-12) are more high-level, because they have to cover everything from textiles to iron. The specific data requirements for each product group are defined in the delegated acts, which are adopted product group by product group.
The battery passport is designed to be interoperable with the ESPR framework. Projects such as CIRPASS and the Battery Pass consortium have worked specifically to ensure that the technical standards (GS1 identifiers, QR codes, decentralised data architecture) align between the two systems.
The battery passport is regarded as the "blueprint" for the whole European DPP ecosystem.
Both systems work with differentiated access to data:
- A public part
- A professional part (repairers, recyclers)
- An authority part
This role-based access model from the battery passport has become a cornerstone of the ESPR's technical design.
The battery industry is ahead
The Battery Regulation was the first EU legislation to require a digital product passport. That makes the battery industry a laboratory for the EU's circular vision: other industries such as textiles and electronics are now looking to the industry's experience.
There are concrete examples of ESPR requirements being inspired by the battery passport:
- The concept of State of Health and a history of repairs and incidents appears in the initial discussions on DPP requirements for complex machinery and electronics.
- The battery industry's experience of balancing transparency with IP protection via role-based access has become a design principle across the ESPR.
For battery companies, this is a strategic advantage: the data, systems and processes set up now for the battery passport can also be used for CSRD reporting and other compliance purposes.
The investment therefore has value well beyond the Battery Regulation.
The wider regulatory landscape
The Battery Regulation and the ESPR are two of several overlapping EU acts that affect the battery industry.
CSDDD (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive) requires broad supply chain due diligence. The Battery Regulation's due diligence requirements are sector-specific and focus on four materials; alignment of the timelines is under way, so both line up in 2027.
CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) requires ESG reporting. Data collected for the battery passport (carbon footprint, recycled content) will be directly usable as documentation.
The Conflict Minerals Regulation covers tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold. The Battery Regulation goes further and requires due diligence for lithium, cobalt, nickel and natural graphite.
REACH and CLP are supplemented by the Battery Regulation with stricter restrictions on mercury, cadmium and lead in batteries.
Timeline: the Battery Regulation vs. the ESPR
2024: The Battery Regulation's CE marking requirements apply. The ESPR enters into force.
2025: The Battery Regulation's extended producer responsibility (EPR) applies. The ESPR's first working plan is adopted.
2026: The Battery Regulation's general labelling requirements apply. The ESPR's central DPP registry is established.
2027: The battery passport becomes mandatory (February). Due diligence applies (August). The first product-specific ESPR requirements for textiles, steel and aluminium are expected.
2028: The Battery Regulation's requirement for a recycled content declaration. ESPR requirements for furniture and tyres are expected.
2030-2031: The Battery Regulation's binding minimum recycled content requirements. The ESPR is expected to have reached "battery level" for all priority product groups.
Summary
For battery companies, the boundary is clear: the Battery Regulation is the primary law that dictates the requirements. The ESPR is the framework that establishes the digital infrastructure, including the central DPP registry to which the battery passport must be linked.
Companies do not have to navigate two parallel sets of rules, but must ensure that their battery passport system is technically compatible with the ESPR registry.
The battery industry is ahead of the rest of EU industry, and the investments made now in data, systems and processes will provide value across several regulatory requirements in the years ahead.
Syntakk is built to structure battery data in line with the requirements of the Battery Regulation and to ensure compatibility with the ESPR's digital infrastructure.
