Placing on the market explained: the single act that triggers passport and conformity duties

Placing on the market is the first making available of a battery on the Union market. The definition in Article 3, read with the Blue Guide on the implementation of EU product rules, makes placing a single, decisive act. It is the act that triggers the conformity, labelling, declaration and passport duties for that battery. Later acts, in which a battery already placed is made available again by a distributor, a retailer or a reseller, are making available, not placing.

Putting into service is a related but distinct act, in which a battery is used for the first time for its intended purpose in the Union, including use by the manufacturer for its own purposes. Export is not placing, where the battery is manufactured in the Union with a view to export to a third country and is not made available in the Union. The distinctions matter because duties attach to placing and to putting into service, not to every later transaction.

What counts as making available?

Making available means any supply of a battery for distribution, consumption or use on the Union market in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge. The supply can be a sale, a gift, a lease, a loan for use, or another transfer of possession or ownership. The commercial activity test matters: a private transfer between individuals, outside a commercial activity, is not making available in the product rules sense, although other rules may apply to the transfer. Making available is the general concept. Placing is the first instance of making available for an individual battery. A battery is placed once. After placing, every further supply is making available. The record should reflect that structure: one placing event, followed by a history of making available, holder and use events where the system records them.

How is placing distinguished from putting into service?

Putting into service means the first use of a battery in the Union for its intended purpose, including use by the manufacturer for its own purposes. A battery manufactured for its own use by the manufacturer, such as a battery installed in the manufacturer’s own equipment or energy storage, is put into service when first used, even though it was never sold. A battery sold to a user is placed when first supplied, and put into service when first used, and the two events may occur on different dates. The passport duty in Article 77 applies to batteries placed on the market or put into service, so both routes trigger the duty. The record should state which route applies, with the date, where the system records it, because the date of the trigger decides which version of the model record, which declaration, and which delegated act position applies to the battery.

What does not count as placing?

A battery manufactured in a Member State with a view to export to a third country, and not made available in the Union, is not placed on the market. A battery brought into the Union by a traveller for personal use, without a commercial supply, is not placed in the product rules sense. A battery held in a warehouse, in transit, or in a customs procedure, without being released for free circulation and made available, is not yet placed. A prototype that has not completed its manufacturing stage, and that is not supplied for use, is not placed. Each of those cases is a non placing, and the record should not show a placing date or a passport duty for a battery that has not been placed. A battery that is later diverted from export to Union sale, or that is released for free circulation and supplied, is placed at that later point, and the duties apply from that point.

How does placing affect the passport date?

The passport must exist for a battery within Article 77 from the placing or putting into service date, for batteries placed or put into service from 18 February 2027. The record version, the declaration version, and the delegated act position are all read as at the placing date, not as at the date of a later check. A battery placed before 18 February 2027 does not acquire a passport duty retrospectively by the arrival of that date, unless a later placing, such as a remanufactured placing, creates a new trigger. A battery placed after that date must have a passport, and a record created after placing, backdated to the placing date, must be labelled as a late creation with the actual creation date shown, rather than presented as if it existed at placing. Backdating without a label falsifies the record history.

What does the placing table summarise?

What should a reader check about placing?

A reader should check the placing or putting into service date, the operator who placed the battery, and the record version that applies as at that date. A reader should not assume that a battery seen in the Union today was placed today, or that a record viewed today was the record in force at placing. Time matters in product law, and the record must show time. This guide gives general educational information only and does not give legal advice for a particular battery, supply chain or transaction.