What happens if you do nothing?
EU Battery Regulation 2023/1542 is directly applicable law - no transitional grace period, no self-disclosure loophole. Anyone who cannot present a valid passport from 18 Feb 2027 risks fines, a sales stop and the loss of their most important B2B customers.
- Without a valid passport, a battery subject to the duty may no longer be placed on the market from 18 Feb 2027. That is not a cosmetic flaw, that is a sales stop.
- Fines are set nationally, but must be "dissuasive". The German draft (BattG 2026) foresees up to 4 % of annual turnover.
- OEMs check passport conformity as a supplier knock-out criterion. Many large buyers are terminating framework contracts in 2026 without proof.
- Customs can detain non-compliant shipments at the EU external border - the damage hits importers particularly hard.
What it costs - concretely
The regulation itself sets no fixed sums, but obliges the member states to "effective, proportionate and dissuasive" sanctions (Art. 93). Germany implements this with the amendment of the Battery Act (BattG draft, as of March 2026) as follows:
Values from the current ministerial draft (BMUV, March 2026). Final version expected in Q4/2026.
No passport = no sale
The harshest tool is not a fine but the ban on placing on the market. Without CE conformity (and the passport is part of it) a battery is simply not marketable - retailers may not accept it, platforms like Amazon delist it, major customers refuse to take delivery.
In practice that means: a 5 MWh storage system that stands fully assembled in Hamburg's port in February 2027 but has no passport is in the worst case no longer sellable - neither in the EU nor (for lack of CE) labelled as "normal" on third markets. Reversing it back to the manufacturer in Asia quickly costs 30–50 % of the order value.
OEMs terminate contracts - already in 2026
Anyone supplying a large OEM (Bosch, Siemens, VW, Daimler Truck, BMZ, Varta major customers) has been confronted since early 2026 with passport-readiness clauses in framework contracts. A typical wording:
"The supplier undertakes to demonstrate by 30 Sep 2026 at the latest that a compliant digital battery passport under Reg. (EU) 2023/1542 can be provided from 18 Feb 2027 for all supplied battery products. In case of non-fulfilment the client has a right of extraordinary termination."
Consequence: anyone who cannot present a plan by mid-2026 loses the contract - regardless of whether their own passport duty only takes effect in 2027. The breach of contract lands earlier.
The underestimated damage
Market surveillance authorities will make breaches public - analogous to the practice under the Machinery or Radio Equipment Directive. Search results like "Manufacturer XY - battery passport objected" stay visible for years. For a B2C brand in the LMT market that can halve annual turnover.
On top of that come class actions by consumer protection associations (in Germany under the VDuG) - the first waves of litigation are expected for 2027/2028 and target B2C brands without clean passport data specifically.
Mid-sized e-bike manufacturer, 50,000 units/year
For illustration: a typical LMT manufacturer with €50m turnover, 5 model ranges, 50,000 packs sold per year. What happens if they reach 18 Feb 2027 without a passport?
Against this stand implementation costs for a complete passport of typically €30,000–80,000 - a factor of 100 between preparing and not preparing.
Three minutes now. Seven-figure risks gone.
Start with a structured eligibility check. In 90 seconds you'll see which fines, market bans and supplier requirements concretely apply to your product.