Public access tier: what anyone who scans a battery should be able to see

The public access tier is the part of a battery passport that anyone can see. Annex XIII point 1 defines it as information relating to the battery model accessible to the general public. Access requires no login, no account, no payment and no statement of interest. The tier exists so that a person who encounters a battery, in a shop, a workshop, a home or a recycling facility, can establish what the battery is and how it should be handled at end of life, without needing a relationship with the operator.

A public tier that requires authentication, that shows only an identifier, or that hides a point 1 field behind a form, fails the purpose of the tier even when the underlying record is complete.

What fields belong in the public tier?

Point 1 fields include general battery information, manufacturer identity, model identifier, category, chemistry in summary, capacity, voltage, weight, place of manufacture, declaration of conformity reference, carbon footprint and recycled content information where applicable, performance and durability information in summary, information on substances and critical raw materials at the required level, marking information, and waste prevention and management information. The list is a summary list, not a minimal list. Each item must be present where it applies to the category, with the qualifiers that make it usable: units, conditions, scope and date. A public tier that shows capacity without conditions, or a carbon figure without scope, is partly present. Partly present public information is a common defect, because display design favours brevity over qualifiers, and qualifiers are exactly what make a figure usable.

How is public completeness tested?

Public completeness is tested by scanning as a stranger: no login, a standard phone, normal lighting, and no prior knowledge of the battery. The tester works through the point 1 field list and records present, partly present or missing for each field. The tester also checks that the view is labelled as public, that the identifier is shown, and that no restricted detail leaks through a file name, an image, a preview or a search result. A public view that is complete on a desktop display but incomplete on a phone display fails the test, because the phone is the expected scanning device. A public view that requires a download to see a point 1 field fails the test in practice, because a download is a barrier that the tier does not contemplate. Testing should cover the display, the linked documents and the search behaviour of the page.

What must the public tier never do?

The public tier must never require a login for point 1 fields, never charge for access, never collect unnecessary personal data as a condition of viewing, and never present marketing material as record information. Marketing material can accompany a record, but it must be labelled as such and kept separate from the record fields, so that a reader does not mistake a claim for a declared value. The public tier must never show restricted detail, and must never show a substitute value for a restricted field. Where a field is restricted, the public view omits it cleanly or states in general terms that further detail exists in the authorised tier, without revealing the detail. The public tier must never claim compliance, safety or sustainability beyond the fields it shows, because the tier is a summary and summaries do not support those conclusions.

How does the public tier relate to labelling?

Labelling on the battery and the public tier in the record are complementary, not duplicates. Labelling gives the reader the essentials at the point of handling: identity, capacity, symbols, and the QR code itself. The public tier gives the fuller model summary: declaration reference, carbon and recycled content declarations, performance summary, and waste information. A reader should be able to move from labelling to record without re-entering an identifier, because the QR code carries the route. A reader should also be able to verify labelling against the record: manufacturer, model, capacity and symbols should agree. Disagreement between labelling and record is a defect in one or the other, and the reader should not proceed to reliance until the disagreement is resolved. The table below summarises the relationship.

How is the public tier kept current?

The public tier is kept current by the same version control that governs the whole record. A model revision, a correction, or a new declaration must appear in the public view at the same time as in the authorised view, with the same version note. A public view that lags behind the authorised view shows stale values to the readers who have no other route to the record, and stale public values are the most damaging form of staleness because the affected readers cannot detect the lag. Currency is tested by comparing the public view with the authorised view on the same date, for the same identifier, and by checking that the version identifier shown in the public view matches the version in force for the unit. A public view without a version identifier cannot be checked for currency, and the display should therefore show the version or the date of the model layer it presents.

What should a public reader do with the view?

A public reader should use the view to identify the battery, to check the model summary, and to find waste information. A public reader should not use the view to decide repair, repurposing or recycling detail, because that detail sits in the authorised tier. A public reader who needs authorised detail should follow the legitimate interest route provided by the system, rather than treating absence of detail as absence of a field. This guide gives general educational information only and does not give legal advice for a particular battery or reader.