Quick Read
- A draft E-bike battery certification from BPS regulation would require e-bikes, e-scooters, electric mopeds, electric motorcycles, and their batteries to carry the PS mark or Import Commodity Clearance before sale.
- Batteries would be assessed on their own, separate from the vehicles they power.
- Importers without a PS license would need clearance on every shipment, so the cost falls hardest on small lots.
- Licensed manufacturers and volume importers spread their cost over a three-year license, and testing laboratories gain volume.
- Nothing is in force, comments are open until December 13, 2026, and reports disagree on the transition schedule.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is proposing that e-bikes, e-scooters, electric mopeds, electric motorcycles, and their batteries carry a government safety mark before they can be sold. Under a draft regulation from the Bureau of Philippine Standards (BPS), e-bike battery certification would run through the PS license and Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) routes the bureau already uses for other mandatory products. The two routes do not weigh equally. A PS license runs three years with annual audits. An importer without one needs clearance on every shipment, and the small lot feels that first.
Nothing here is in force. DTI frames the draft as a response to electrical faults, overheating, power failures and fires. BPS held a consultation on the draft in Taguig City on October 14, 2026, and comments are open until December 13, 2026.
E-Bike Battery Certification Extends a Gate Lead-Acid Already Faces
BPS already certifies lead-acid storage batteries under PNS 06:1987, and its mandatory certification listing includes motorcycle and scooter batteries. The machinery is old. Under e-bike battery certification, the same routes would take in finished e-bikes, personal e-mobility devices, mopeds, electric motorcycles, and their batteries.
The draft leaves out standalone electric vehicle supply equipment, charging stations, battery-swapping stations, stationary battery energy storage systems, and electrical components it does not list.
BPS also already lists PNS UL 2271:2024 for light electric vehicle batteries and PNS UL 2849:2023 for e-bike electrical systems. Published reports do not say the draft adopts either. If it does, products already tested to them start closest to the line.
Per-Shipment Clearance Hits the Small Lot Hardest
Under BPS’s existing terms, a PS license is valid for three years with annual surveillance audits, while an ICC is valid for one bill of lading only. Reports describe the same split for e-bike battery certification. Manufacturers, local and foreign, would need a PS license. Importers without one would need an ICC on every shipment. BPS subjects covered products to sampling, inspection and testing before they carry either mark.
That makes the cost a function of the shipment, not the unit. A large container spreads it across many bikes. A small trial order spreads it across few. Fee levels for the draft have not been reported, so how much the cost differs by lot size is unknown, but the direction follows from how the scheme is built.
Licensed manufacturers and importers moving steady volume gain, because their cost is spread over a license term. Testing laboratories gain volume, since every covered product needs assessment. Small importers have two options as reported. They can obtain their own PS license, which means audits they may not have the volume to justify, or they can clear every shipment and accept thinner margins on each one.
Foreign factories that take a PS license would carry audit costs of their own. Whether those costs reach importers through supplier quotes depends on factory margins, which no report has addressed.
Batteries Get Their Own Assessment
Under the draft, batteries would be assessed independently, not only as part of a complete vehicle. Components may still be tested within the assembled vehicle where the relevant standards require it. Reports do not give the draft’s testing rules in full, so whether one pack could be assessed twice, once alone and once inside a bike, is unconfirmed. Where that happens, the testing cost lands on whoever submits the product.
The separation raises a question reports have not answered. If the battery is its own product, a certified bike does not make a loose replacement pack certified. Whether the draft reaches packs sold separately is not yet known. If it does, shops and online sellers that resell or refit packs face the same gate as the bike makers.
Online Sellers Fall Inside the Gate
According to published reports, once the transition ends only products with the PS mark or ICC may be distributed, whether through online or physical stores. E-commerce platforms were among the groups at the consultation, along with industry associations, manufacturers, and testing and certification organizations. Reports do not say whether platforms would have to police listings.
For online sellers, e-bike battery certification works differently from a port check. A gate at the port reaches importers. A gate on listings reaches the seller who bought units from an importer and never touched customs. If listings are enforced, sellers of unmarked stock lose their channel, and sellers of marked units gain as unmarked ones come down. Buyers stand to gain if untested batteries leave the market, which is the safety case DTI is making, though no report puts a price on the change.
The Schedule Is Still Disputed
Reports of the schedule for e-bike battery certification do not agree. One describes a 12-month transition, after which only marked and cleared products may be sold. Another describes 12 months of voluntary compliance, mandatory certification after that, and full market enforcement 24 months after the order takes effect. Both readings start from an order that is still a draft and has no effectivity date.
Reports do not say whether units landed before the mandatory date can still be sold afterward, which matters most to importers with stock in transit.
The ICC route prices the shipment, not the bike. The small lot pays first and the licensed factory pays least, and shelf prices move only if the businesses carrying the cost decide to pass it on.
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