What an EU importer must do, and why it matters to you

Your EU importer must check your conformity documents before it sells your product. Under the EU battery regulation it must also keep the battery passport correct from 18 February 2027. An importer is a company established in the European Union (EU) that brings your product in and supplies it first.

If one of your conformity documents is missing, your importer must not place your goods on the market. Your stock then stays in a European warehouse, and nobody pays you for it.

An importer is established in the Union, and it supplies your product first

Two definitions in Article 3(1) of the battery regulation settle who the importer is.

An importer is "any natural or legal person established within the Union who places on the market a battery from a third country". To place on the market is "the first making available of a battery on the Union market".

The definition names the first supply only. A company that buys from the importer and sells again did not place the product on the market. See distributor and retailer obligations.

New Zealand sits outside the Union. So you are not the importer if you have no company established in the Union. You do not carry the passport duty. See who is the economic operator.

The test is establishment in the Union. If you open a company in Europe, and that company brings the goods in, that company is the importer. The duty then sits inside your own group.

A white paper from the PARSEC, CIRPASS-2 and BORDERLINK projects reads the passport duty more widely. It says a non-EU manufacturer stays a duty holder whatever its establishment. Those projects hold EU funding, and that paper is not legislation.

Before it sells your battery, the importer must check your documents

Article 41(2) of the battery regulation tells the importer what to verify before it places a battery on the market:

(a) the EU declaration of conformity and technical documentation referred to in Annex VIII have been drawn up and that the relevant conformity assessment procedure referred to in Article 17 has been carried out by the manufacturer; (b) the battery bears the CE marking referred to in Article 19, and is marked and labelled in accordance with Article 13

The importer can only check that each item exists, because it did not design or build the battery. See what a non-EU exporter must supply and manufacturer obligations.

From 18 February 2027 the importer keeps the battery passport correct

The battery regulation is in force. Its passport duty starts on 18 February 2027. It covers three categories of battery:

• each light means of transport (LMT) battery, such as an e-bike battery
• each industrial battery with a capacity greater than 2 kilowatt hours
• each electric vehicle battery

Warning: the LMT category carries no size threshold. Do not decide your position from the loose phrase "large batteries". The Commission web page on digital product passports writes "certain types of batteries, including", and that list is open. See batteries.

Article 77(4) sets the standard the importer must meet:

The economic operator placing the battery on the market shall ensure that the information in the battery passport is accurate, complete and up to date. It may give written authorisation to any other operator to act on its behalf.

The words "up to date" make this a continuing duty. The importer can state only what you send it.

Written authorisation lets you do the work, and it does not move the duty

Your importer may authorise you in writing to act on its behalf.

The authorisation is not a transfer of responsibility. The operator that placed the battery on the market stays responsible for the accuracy of the passport.

Article 77(7) is the only transfer route. It moves the duty when a battery is re-used, repurposed, remanufactured, or becomes waste.

A contract can share the cost of the work. A contract cannot move the importer's legal position. See agreeing data duties.

The ecodesign registry upload falls on your importer, and no rule applies yet

The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) applies the same test to the same operator. Article 13(4) reads:

The economic operator placing the product on the market or putting it into service shall upload, in the registry, the data referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2.

The importer uploads the unique identifiers. For goods released for free circulation it uploads the commodity code as well. The registry then answers with a unique registration identifier.

Warning: that identifier is not a certificate. Article 13(5) states that the registry's communication "shall not be deemed to be proof of compliance with this Regulation or other Union law". See the EU registry.

This upload duty reaches nobody today. It starts for a product group only when the European Commission adopts a rule for that group, called a delegated act. The Commission has adopted no such rule. Read how to read the timeline before you accept a date.

Article 15 adds the customs step. A person that places a covered product under the customs procedure "release for free circulation" must give customs the unique registration identifier. This step also reaches a product only after a delegated act covers it. See market surveillance and customs.

When a delegated act covers your product, the passport must name your importer

Annex III of ESPR lists what a passport must hold. This list binds a product group only after a delegated act covers that group. Point (j) requires information on the importer. It also requires the importer's Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number.

Point (k) requires one more party. The passport must carry the name, the contact details and the unique operator identifier of an operator established in the Union. That operator is responsible for the tasks in Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020.

You cannot fill those fields, because your importer holds the numbers. Ask for them before the first shipment.

Your importer also carries product liability, so it will ask you for indemnities

Directive (EU) 2024/2853 on product liability names who pays for a defective product. The directive is in force. Article 8(1)(c) makes the EU importer liable when the manufacturer sits outside the Union.

Article 21 repeals the earlier directive, Council Directive 85/374/EEC. The repeal takes effect on 9 December 2026. The new directive applies to a product placed on the market or put into service after that date. The earlier directive still applies to a product placed on the market before it.

That rule explains the behaviour you will meet. Your importer pays in Europe for a defect that you built in New Zealand. So it will ask for evidence, indemnities and current data, and it will ask early.

The battery regulation is in force, and no ESPR duty binds yet

Get your importer's answers in writing before the first shipment

1. Ask which company places your product on the EU market. Write the name down.
2. Ask if that company holds the items in Article 41(2) for your product.
3. Ask who builds the passport, and who pays to host it.
4. Ask for the importer's operator identifier and its EORI number.
5. Agree in writing who updates each data item, and how fast.