Attempts to reach a compromise on the proposed EU regulation on batteries and battery waste are progressing well, but further discussion is needed, especially on the issue of due diligence, rapporteur Antonius Manders (EPP, Netherlands) told members of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) on Monday 8 November.
This regulation was presented in December 2020 to create a true European battery industry while supporting the transition to the circular economy and the EU’s climate neutrality by 2050 (see EUROPE 12620/13).
According to Mr Manders, there is no divisive debate on the concepts and all political groups will have their views represented. “We know that the devil is in the detail, but even the Environment Committee (ENVI) copies a lot of what we are saying”, he said.
The draft report by Simona Bonafé (S&D, Italy) supports and clarifies the European Commission’s proposal (see EUROPE 12811/4).
Mr Manders believes that it is important to increase the ambition of the global technical regulation standards to protect European industry while ensuring that it is more climate sustainable.
While a first group of compromise amendments is agreed, the due diligence requirement on carbon footprint, recycled content and human rights observance for imported batteries is not. “How far can we go? Should it cover the supply chain or the value chain? That is the real question”, said Mr Manders.
He was satisfied with the progress made on the technical level, but expressed confidence that a compromise could be found on this issue, as was the case in the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee in April. Without ruling out going further, he acknowledged that he still had to convince his political group, the EPP.
“We will create a new strategic industry policy within IMCO, with the internal market as a lever. We will show that the internal market is a very, very powerful weapon to protect our industry, to protect the climate”, the rapporteur stressed. He believes that the internal market is the most important factor in this draft regulation.
The Environment Ministers of the EU27 have asked that the ‘Environment’ legal basis be added to the Internal Market legal basis for this future legislation (see EUROPE 12681/5).
On behalf of the S&D group, Adriana Maldonado López warned against any weakening of article 11 on the reparability of batteries and availability of spare parts - “a red line” - and against a weakening of article 39. She also expressed doubts about the issues of competition,and arbitration procedure for disputes before the Court of Justice.
The vote on the compromise amendments in the IMCO committee is scheduled for December. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)