What changed in the regulations

What changed in the regulations

1. 18 август 2026 г.

   The battery passport access-rights act missed its statutory deadline

   The Batteries Regulation requires the Commission to set out in a separate act who may see which passport data — the manufacturer, the market surveillance authority, the purchaser, whoever will recycle the battery. The deadline written into the regulation itself was 18 August 2026. The act has not been adopted; the Commission's indicative timeline now points to the last quarter of 2026. The 18 February 2027 obligation does not depend on that act and is not being postponed. The regime begins with access tiers that are both legally required and operationally undefined.Source: Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, Article 77(9)Batteries Regulation →
2. 15 август 2026 г.

   The Commission published the full field list for the battery passport

   Version 2.0 of the DG GROW guidance lists 71 data points and states for each whether it is mandatory, conditional or optional — separately for the three battery categories. The count produces a surprise: an e-bike battery carries 50 mandatory fields, against 47 for an electric car and 32 for an industrial battery. The last twenty-one fields (51 to 71) are dynamic — state of health, charging cycles, power fade, and explicitly "negative events, such as accidents". The passport is therefore a record maintained across the battery's life, not a document filed once. The document states expressly that it does not represent the Commission's official position. Several fields still carry a note that the format is yet to be determined.Source: Guidance Document: Digital Batteries Passport — data points by category, version 2.0, 15 August 2026, DG GROWTraceability →
3. 13 август 2026 г.

   New limits on lead and hexavalent chromium in batteries entered into force

   Regulation (EU) 2026/1738 replaced the substance-restriction table in Annex I of the Batteries Regulation in full, adding limit values for lead and hexavalent chromium in traction and starter batteries in cars and light commercial vehicles. A distinction worth drawing: this changes composition requirements, not the passport. Lead-acid starter batteries remain outside the scope of the digital passport.Source: Regulation (EU) 2026/1738, Article 53 and Annex XIIBatteries Regulation →
4. 20 юли 2026 г.

   The Commission's Digital Product Passport Registry went live

   The system every passport must be recorded in is in real operation — together with a testing environment and user guidelines. Registration runs through a secure interface or an application programming interface, and economic operators may request proof of registration as a secure electronic document. The practical consequence is that the infrastructure is no longer in preparation. It exists, and it is waiting for content.Source: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778, adopted 16 July 2026, published in the Official Journal on 17 July 2026Digital Product Passport →
5. 15 юли 2026 г.

   The six digital passport standards were cited in the Official Journal

   With Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736 the Commission published in the Official Journal the references of EN 18216, EN 18219, EN 18220, EN 18221, EN 18222 and EN 18223 as harmonised standards under the ESPR. From the date of publication, a digital passport built to them benefits from a presumption of conformity with Articles 10 and 11 of the regulation — the legal step that the publication of the standards on 27 May did not by itself provide. The standards are horizontal: they define how the passport works technically, but create no obligation for any product. The two security standards — on access rights and on data authenticity — were not cited and remain in draft.Source: Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736, adopted 14 July 2026, published in the Official Journal on 15 July 2026; the presumption follows from ESPR Article 41(2)Harmonised standards →
6. 27 май 2026 г.

   The six core European standards for the digital passport were published

   CEN and CENELEC published EN 18216, EN 18219, EN 18220, EN 18221, EN 18222 and EN 18223 — the horizontal standards defining how the passport is identified, carried, transported and exchanged. They were developed by the joint technical committee JTC 24. Publishing a standard is not the same as presumption of conformity. That follows only once the Commission cites the standards in the Official Journal — which, for these six, happened on 15 July 2026 (see the entry for that date). The two security standards — on access rights and on data authenticity — are still in draft.Source: CEN-CENELEC, date of availability 27 May 2026; presumption of conformity follows from ESPR Article 41Harmonised standards →