Battery Compliance Glossary

This glossary defines common terms used in battery compliance across regulations, standards, transport, documentation, audits, and lifecycle obligations. Definitions are written for practical use by compliance, engineering, supply chain, logistics, quality, and operations teams.

Core Governance and Compliance Terms

Compliance file: A controlled set of evidence records that support compliance claims for a product, program, or asset. Often includes test evidence, declarations, approvals, and change control records.
GRC: Governance, Risk, and Compliance. A framework for assigning accountability, managing risk, and maintaining evidence of compliance.
Risk register: A structured list of risks with owners, likelihood and impact scoring, controls, and evidence references.
Control: A preventive or detective mechanism designed to reduce risk and ensure requirements are met. Controls should have owners and measurable operation.
CAPA: Corrective and Preventive Action. A formal process to investigate issues, determine root cause, implement corrective action, and prevent recurrence.
Audit readiness: The ability to demonstrate compliant processes and provide accurate evidence records on request, with controlled versions and traceability.
Obligated party: The legal entity responsible for meeting a requirement in a given jurisdiction, such as a producer, importer, distributor, or brand owner.

Regulations and Standards Terms

Regulation: A binding legal requirement issued by a government or authority that creates obligations and potential penalties for noncompliance.
Standard: A published technical specification or test method, often issued by a standards body, that may be voluntary unless referenced by law or required by customers or authorities.
Conformity assessment: A process to demonstrate that a product meets requirements, often involving testing, documentation review, and sometimes third-party assessment.
Declaration of conformity: A supplier or manufacturer statement asserting compliance to specified requirements, typically supported by controlled evidence.
Third-party certification: An independent assessment by an accredited or recognized body that a product, system, or process meets specified requirements.
Market access: The ability to legally sell, ship, or place a product on the market within a jurisdiction based on meeting applicable requirements.

Transport Compliance Terms

UN 38.3: A set of transport-related tests for lithium cells and batteries. Evidence is often required for acceptance by carriers and logistics partners.
IATA: The International Air Transport Association. In practice, many organizations reference IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations for air shipment requirements.
IMDG: International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code. The primary code used for sea transport of dangerous goods.
ADR: A European agreement governing the international carriage of dangerous goods by road, influencing land transport requirements in many regions.
Dangerous goods: Articles or substances capable of posing a risk to health, safety, property, or the environment in transport, subject to classification and control.
Shipping classification: The determination of correct shipment identifiers such as proper shipping name, UN number, hazard class, and packing instruction references.
Damaged or defective battery: A battery that is physically damaged, shows abnormal behavior, or is suspected of safety risk. Such batteries are often restricted or require special packaging and approvals.

Materials, Traceability, and Due Diligence Terms

Regulated materials: Materials subject to legal obligations, restrictions, reporting, due diligence, or disclosure requirements within one or more jurisdictions.
Restricted substance: A substance limited or prohibited above specified thresholds in products or components by law or customer requirements.
SVHC: Substances of Very High Concern. A classification used in some jurisdictions to trigger communication and reporting duties.
Traceability: The ability to link a shipped battery to its design revision, configuration, manufacturing site, lot or serial identifiers, and upstream supplier data and evidence.
Chain of custody: A record of who handled an item and when, used to preserve traceability and accountability during transport, returns, and end-of-life flows.
Due diligence: A systematic process to identify, assess, mitigate, and report on supply chain risks, often focused on high-risk materials and upstream sourcing.

Lifecycle and End-of-Life Terms

EPR: Extended Producer Responsibility. A policy approach that makes producers financially or operationally responsible for end-of-life collection and treatment.
Take-back: A program or process for collecting spent products or batteries from users for proper treatment or recycling.
Second life: Reuse of a battery in a different application after its original use case, typically requiring screening, diagnostics, and compliance controls.
Recycling certificate: A document from a downstream partner stating that materials were treated or recycled in accordance with required standards or permits.
Decommissioning: The process of safely removing and retiring a battery system or asset, including packaging, transport, treatment, and documentation.

Battery Passport and Data Terms

Battery passport: A structured data record or disclosure concept intended to provide standardized battery information across identity, materials, compliance, and lifecycle attributes.
Data pipeline: A repeatable process for collecting, validating, and publishing structured data inputs from suppliers and internal systems.
Master data: Core reference data used across systems, such as product models, supplier identities, and configuration identifiers.
Configuration ID: A unique identifier for a specific design variant or bill of materials revision used to tie evidence to what was actually produced and shipped.