EU Batteries Regulation Due Diligence Thresholds

Start with the legal actor, not the battery chemistry. Chapter VII concerns economic operators that place batteries on the market or put them into service, but Article 47 excludes operators below a net-turnover threshold when the group condition is also satisfied.

The exclusion is narrow: it covers an economic operator that had net turnover below EUR 40 million in the financial year preceding the last financial year and is not part of a parent-subsidiary group whose consolidated turnover exceeds EUR 40 million. If the assessment is made during a calendar-year 2027 financial year, the wording ordinarily points to the 2025 financial year, not 2026; use the operator's actual financial-year boundaries.

The tests are not identical. The operator must be below EUR 40 million; an operator at exactly EUR 40 million does not meet that condition. The group limb asks whether consolidated turnover exceeds EUR 40 million.

Article 47 also excludes Chapter VII in relation to placing on the market or putting into service batteries that have already been placed on the market or put into service before preparation for re-use, preparation for repurposing, repurposing, or remanufacturing.

This is not a blanket exemption for all reused or repurposed battery business. Keep the record tied to the specific battery, the earlier placing-on-market or putting-into-service evidence, the later operation performed, and the later placing-on-market act.

For in-scope economic operators, the due diligence policy is not open-ended across every input. Article 49 points to the raw materials listed in Annex X and the associated social and environmental risk categories.

Annex X lists cobalt, natural graphite, lithium, nickel, and chemical compounds based on those raw materials when the compounds are necessary for manufacturing the active materials of batteries.

From 18 August 2027, once Chapter VII applies to the operator and batteries, Article 48 requires the economic operator to set up and implement battery due diligence policies, have those policies verified by a notified body under Article 51, and have them periodically audited by that notified body.

Article 51 describes the third-party verification route: the notified body checks the operator's activities, processes, and systems against Articles 49, 50 and 52, issues a verification report, and issues an approval decision when the policy fulfils those obligations.

Keep four conclusions separate in the scope record: operator turnover, group status, second-life battery status, and raw material scope. Mixing those questions can create false positives and false exemptions.

For in-scope operators, the same record should hand off to the due diligence policy owner with the Annex X material list, supplier data gaps, risk assessment status, notified-body route, and public reporting owner.