Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 assigns explicit, different duties to every actor in the battery chain: manufacturers, producers, cell and module suppliers, importers, distributors, fulfilment-service providers and second-life operators. Articles 38–46 define those duties, and non-EU factories need to understand them because their European customers will ask for exactly the documents the law places on the importer. This paper separates the roles and builds the supplier-side checklist for nickel-metal hydride (NiMH).
The manufacturer (Article 39) is the entity that manufactures or designs a battery, or has it designed or manufactured and markets it under its name. Its duties are comprehensive: design compliant with substance, performance, safety and labeling requirements; complete the conformity-assessment procedure; draw up the technical documentation and EU Declaration of Conformity; affix CE; keep records for ten years; implement compliant-series production with change control; label with name, trade mark and contactable address; operate complaint handling, corrective action and recall procedures; and cooperate with market-surveillance authorities. The producer definition for extended-producer-responsibility purposes additionally triggers per-country registration and take-back financing — a separate duty covered in our EPR paper.
The importer (Article 42) places a non-EU battery on the EU market and must, before doing so, verify that conformity assessment was completed, that technical documentation exists, that CE marking and required labels/instructions are present, and that the manufacturer's contact details appear. The importer must state its own name and postal/electronic address on the battery or packaging, keep a copy of the DoC available for ten years, and suspend placement where it finds non-conformity, notifying the manufacturer and authority. The distributor (Article 43) must check the visible compliance elements — CE mark, labels, instructions, importer identification — before making a battery available, and ensure storage and transport do not compromise compliance. Fulfilment-service providers (Article 44) assume manufacturer-like obligations when they handle batteries for sellers without an EU establishment.
Article 38 and the related provisions recognise that pack manufacturers depend on cell and module suppliers: the upstream supplier must provide the technical information and compliance evidence needed for the downstream operator to meet its obligations — composition, test data, carbon and recycled-content inputs where relevant, and due-diligence information. In a NiMH value chain this means the cell factory is effectively the evidence originator: the pack builder, the brand and the importer all re-use the cell maker's substance reports, IEC 62133-1 results, IEC 61951 performance data and nickel due-diligence records. Missing upstream evidence cannot be recreated downstream, which is why importers audit the factory rather than the trading company.
A manufacturer without an EU establishment may appoint an authorised representative in writing (Article 40) to hold the DoC and technical documentation, cooperate with authorities and perform specified tasks; the manufacturer remains responsible for compliant products regardless. Where no authorised representative exists, the importer carries the manufacturer's obligations — a reason importers either demand an EU representative or a very complete supplier dossier. NiMH exporters should understand that "FOB shipping" does not end their regulatory exposure: their name appears in the technical file, their test reports justify the CE mark, and recall or non-conformity notices flow back to them contractually.
A NiMH factory ready for Articles 38–46 audits holds: category classification per product; Annex VIII technical file index; signed Annex IX DoC templates; Article 13 label artwork files; IEC 61951/62133-1 and UN 38.3 reports; REACH and Annex I declarations; Annex III/IV durability data; due-diligence policy and verification; ten-year record control; change-control and CAPA procedures; lot traceability from cell to shipment; and an importer handoff pack translated as required. Each item maps to a specific article, which lets the importer close its own checklist in days rather than weeks.
Weijiang Power operates as the evidence originator EU importers need: a per-product Article 38–46 handoff pack containing technical file, DoC, labels, test reports, durability data and due-diligence records, with lot traceability and change control. Request our importer checklist and we will map each of your destination-market obligations to the exact document we supply, including the information your authorised representative must hold.
