Own brand: when you count as manufacturer

Many retailers sell batteries and storage systems under their own brand, made by a manufacturer in Asia. For the Batteries Regulation, what counts is not who builds the battery but under whose name it is put on the market. Putting your own brand on it generally means taking on the manufacturer's obligations, including for the battery passport.

The roles at a glance

• Manufacturer: manufactures a battery or has it designed or manufactured and markets it under its own name or trademark, or puts it into service for its own purposes (Art. 3(1), point 33).
• Importer: is established in the EU and places a battery from a third country on the market (point 64).
• Distributor: makes a battery available on the market and is neither the manufacturer nor the importer (point 65).
• Placing on the market: the first making available of a battery on the EU market (point 16).

Own brand means manufacturer obligations

Art. 44 expressly turns importers and distributors into manufacturers in any of these cases:

• The battery is placed on the market or put into service under their own name or trademark (point (a)).
• They modify a battery already placed on the market in a way that may affect compliance with the requirements (point (b)).
• They change the purpose of a battery already placed on the market (point (c)).

All obligations under Art. 38 then apply to them. It does not matter whether you have ever touched a cell.

Typical cases

• You have batteries made in China with your logo and import them: you are manufacturer and importer at the same time. You place the battery on the market and are responsible for the passport.
• You buy from a wholesaler in the EU who already delivers the battery with your brand: you still count as manufacturer (Art. 44(a)). Record in writing who first places the battery on the market and creates the passport.
• You resell batteries under the manufacturer's brand: you are a distributor. You do not create a passport, but before selling you check the CE marking, the marking under Art. 13, the accompanying documents and the producer's registration in the register of producers (Art. 42(2)).
• You modify batteries or use them for a different purpose: you become a manufacturer under Art. 44(b) or (c).

What this means for the battery passport

• If you place the battery on the market, you are responsible for the passport being accurate, complete and up to date (Art. 77(4)). You can authorise service providers in writing; the responsibility stays with you.
• You assign the unique identifier of each battery (Art. 77(3)) and register it in the EU registry under your own account.
• In the passport you appear as manufacturer with name, brand and address. As place of manufacture you enter the actual plant.
• You draw up the technical documentation, have the conformity assessment carried out, issue the EU declaration of conformity in your name and affix the CE marking (Art. 38(2) and (3)). You keep the documentation for ten years (Art. 38(4)).
• Your name, your address, the model identifier and the serial or batch number go on the battery (Art. 38(6) and (7)).

The data for this is held by the contract manufacturer. So secure the data delivery in the contract. If it supplies you with cells or modules, it must give you the necessary information free of charge (Art. 39).

Further obligations

• Register of producers: whoever resells other manufacturers' batteries under their own brand is also a producer for extended producer responsibility (Art. 3(1), point 47(b)). In Germany you register with Stiftung EAR and take part in take-back.
• Supply chain due diligence from 18 Aug 2027, if your net turnover is not below €40 million.
• From 18 Feb 2027, a QR code on every battery (Art. 13(6)).

Quick check for own brands

1. Is your name or brand on the battery or its packaging? Then assume manufacturer obligations.
2. Clarify in writing for each model who places the battery on the EU market.
3. Request all Annex XIII data from the contract manufacturer and regulate change notifications in the contract.
4. Create the passports, print the QR labels and prepare registration in the EU registry.