Scope
Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 concerns batteries and waste batteries. Annex I restricts mercury in batteries, cadmium in portable batteries, and lead in portable batteries, including batteries incorporated into specified products.
Exact limit and units
| Metal | Product scope | Limit | Unit | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury | Batteries, whether or not incorporated into appliances, light means of transport or other vehicles | 0.0005 | percent mercury expressed as mercury metal by weight | battery by weight |
| Cadmium | Portable batteries, whether or not incorporated into appliances, light means of transport or other vehicles | 0.002 | percent cadmium expressed as cadmium metal by weight | portable battery by weight |
| Lead | Portable batteries, whether or not incorporated into appliances | 0.01 | percent lead expressed as lead metal by weight | portable battery by weight |
The lead restriction applies from 18 August 2024. Portable zinc-air button cells are exempt from that lead restriction until 18 August 2028.
How tested
Annex I states each restriction as a percent by weight of the named metal, expressed as mercury metal, cadmium metal, or lead metal. The text excerpt does not provide a standalone analytical-method table for these substance restrictions.
Enforcement posture
These are statutory EU product restrictions under the Batteries Regulation. Batteries in the listed scopes must not exceed the Annex I heavy-metal concentration conditions.
History of changes
Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 was adopted on 12 July 2023 and repealed Directive 2006/66/EC. The heavy-metal restrictions are placed in Annex I of the 2023 regulation, with the portable-battery lead restriction taking effect on 18 August 2024.
How it compares
The regulation is a battery-content instrument, not a food, cosmetics, or packaging-migration instrument. Mercury has the lowest percent-by-weight threshold, cadmium is limited in portable batteries, and lead has a later application date plus a temporary zinc-air button-cell exception.
Sources
Update history
The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.
| Commit | Date | Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| a8052bb | 2026-08-09 | major | 1 source added; contamination-profile values revised; 7 sections added |