News from the EU Battery Regulation – the future will be less bureaucratic, more digital and more specific

There are developments regarding the EU Battery Regulation: currently, the comprehensive regulation still too often provides a demanding framework with tight deadlines and little information regarding the specific requirements. Assistance and details on actual handling in practice are therefore valuable and have been promised in various places in the regulation, directly in the text. However, the actual publications are still a long time coming! New drafts from the Commission to amend the Battery Regulation now indicate that there is room for relief in several areas. News from the EU Battery Regulation – the future will be less bureaucratic, more digital and more specific! 
 

I. Commission guidelines
 

Removability and replaceability

At the beginning of the year, the Commission's guidelines on ‘removability and replaceability’ were published in the Official Journal of the European Union. This non-legally binding guidance is explanatory in nature, provides clarification on various terms used in Article 11 and is intended to facilitate a more uniform understanding of the requirements relating to the removability and replaceability of batteries in appliances and light vehicles. Read more about this in our technical article ‘Current developments for the battery regulation’.
 

Due diligence obligations of economic operators

By 18 February 2025, the Commission should have published further guidelines on the application of the due diligence obligations set out in Articles 49 and 50 in relation to the social and environmental risks listed in Annex X, point 2.

With its draft amendment to the Battery Regulation published on 23 May, an extension of the deadline is now on the horizon – for the publication of the guidelines and, above all, for the actual due diligence obligations. The draft originates from the so-called Omnibus IV package and is thus one of numerous measures designed to ease the burden on companies.

While the publication of the corresponding guidelines is now scheduled for 26 July 2026, the corresponding due diligence obligations (Articles 49-50) currently scheduled to take effect on 18 August 2025, relating to the adaptation of corporate strategy and management systems, the establishment of risk management measures and the associated disclosure requirements (Article 52), will not take effect until 18 August 2027, according to the draft amendment.

Affected economic operators (i.e. companies with a net turnover of 40 million or more in the penultimate financial year) who place batteries on the market or put them into service must therefore:

• establish and publish a comprehensive management system; this ranges from adapting the corporate strategy and internal management systems to setting up complaint, early warning and remedial systems (Art. 49).
• design risk management strategies for their supply chains (Art. 50),
• undergo independent audits by notified bodies (Art. 51) and
• disclose information on the fulfilment of the relevant due diligence obligations towards authorities, immediate downstream recipients (=customers) and the general public (including online) in report form (Art. 52).

In view of the current situation, which is characterised by geopolitical upheaval and economic uncertainty, a two-year extension to prepare and implement appropriate measures is welcome and provides the necessary leeway to adequately assess supply chains and, if necessary, adjust them.

Finally, the extension of the deadline also takes into account the fact that the aforementioned notified bodies responsible for independent verification have not yet been established – they should be given more time to do so.