The European Commission launched a public consultation on an initiative to develop a sustainable European battery sector that is internationally competitive on Thursday 13 June.
The public consultation, which will end on 8 August, is aimed at public and private actors active in the sector, with particular attention to SMEs and environmental activist NGOs and those representing consumer rights. Standard setting organisations in the field of sustainability, as well as potential users of electric cars, are also being consulted.
The objective of this consultation, the institution explains, is to support "regulatory intervention" whose main objective is to encourage the production and marketing in the EU of high-performance, safe, durable (over time) batteries and accumulators, but also to create a level playing field between economic operators, without specifying whether European or international economic operators are involved.
For the time being, the feedback is positive, according to public comments from Orange (link: https://bit.ly/2XW9cIw ), the Cobalt Institute (link: https://bit.ly/2FfAcLA ) as well as the European Electromobility Platform (link: https://bit.ly/2WPOuxi ).
The development of a European battery sector has become a strategic European issue to guarantee the Union's independence in the future. Several transnational partnerships are currently being set up (see EUROPE 12246/9). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)