A cell factory in Korea, a maker of battery packs in Shenzhen and an importer in Hamburg have little in common at first glance. The moment their goods reach the EU market, however, the same rules apply to all of them. Why does a regulation decided in Brussels reach a factory in Guangdong?
The answer is the Brussels effect. Anyone making products that are sold in Europe should understand it, because it decides who needs the Digital Product Passport and whom the battery passport obligation hits from 2027 - and that is far more companies than just those based in the EU.
What the Brussels effect is
The term goes back to the legal scholar Anu Bradford. The observation behind it is simple: the EU single market is large and wealthy, and access to it is tied to strict rules. Whoever wants to sell there complies. Because that pays off for enough companies, the European standard becomes the de facto global one - even where no local law requires it.
The decisive lever is market access: the EU does not force a manufacturer in Asia to do anything; the wish to keep supplying Europe does. A briefing by the European Parliament describes this pattern across many fields of regulation.
The obligation attaches to the market, not the location
The Digital Product Passport follows exactly this logic. The EU Batteries Regulation 2023/1542 attaches the battery passport obligation to placing on the EU market, not to the place of production. As soon as a battery reaches the European market, it needs a battery passport reachable via QR code from 18 February 2027 - regardless of whether the cell was made in Korea, the pack in China or the end device in Germany.
A manufacturer outside the EU is therefore on the hook the moment its product crosses the border. The production location offers no shelter from the European rule; it merely moves it one step along the supply chain.
Why one compliant line is cheaper than many
In theory a manufacturer could keep one EU variant alongside cheaper, less regulated variants for other markets. In practice this rarely pays. Two production lines, two data sets, two test processes cost more than a single line that satisfies everywhere. So many manufacturers align their entire production with the strictest market - and that is usually the EU.
This is how a European rule turns into a global standard without any other state having to adopt it. Specialists call this the de facto Brussels effect. Alongside it sits the de jure variant: when other governments translate EU rules into their own law. For the product passport, both are taking shape.
The pattern repeats
The product passport is not a one-off but the latest instance of a familiar pattern. The General Data Protection Regulation shaped consent banners and privacy notices worldwide. The CE marking and the REACH chemicals regulation determine how products are built and declared in the first place. The CBAM carbon border adjustment now draws the same circle around the emissions of imported goods.
And the movement reaches beyond Europe: DPP-like requirements are emerging in California, Japan and South Korea, among others. Whoever is set up for the EU passport today has already laid the groundwork for the next wave.
What this means for the battery passport
An uncomfortable truth for the supply chain follows from the Brussels effect: the obligation cannot simply be passed on. Legally responsible is the economic operator that places the battery on the EU market - usually the importer or an authorised representative in the EU. The source data, however (carbon footprint, recycled content, due diligence, cell origin), necessarily sits with the manufacturer.
So either the manufacturer outside the EU delivers the compliant data, or it appoints a representative to hold it on its behalf; without a compliant battery passport, EU market access ends. Both routes run through the same product data set. How to build that one data set so it serves the EU and China at once is covered in ‘One data set, two regimes’; the ESPR timeline 2027 sorts out the deadlines of the first wave.
A rule creates a market, not a sure thing
For all the force of the Brussels effect, one caveat holds: a rule creates a market, not yet a finished solution. It says that a passport will be needed, not how a manufacturer produces one without months of projects. That is where the real work lies.
The pragmatic answer is to build a single, clean data structure early - one that satisfies the EU passport, can be exported at any time and stays free of vendor lock-in. Whoever orders their product data now, instead of waiting for the last deadline, has the passport ready the moment the market asks for it. The Brussels effect ensures that moment comes; the preparation remains your own decision.