The Czech Presidency of the EU Council intends to make rapid progress on the proposed Sustainable Batteries Regulation, the landmark circular economy legislation that has been on the table since December 2020.
The regulation aims to improve the sustainability of batteries throughout their life cycle - from raw material extraction to end-of-life reuse - to protect the environment and health and to create a European battery industry.
After a second round of inter-institutional negotiations (trialogue) in June (see EUROPE 12983/17), the Czech Presidency has identified ways to try to bring the EU Council’s position (see EUROPE 12913/13) closer to that of the European Parliament, which is much more ambitious (see EUROPE 12908/12), in view of a third trilogue on 11 October.
This compromise proposal of 30 September deals with the issues that remained open in June (Chapter II), mainly: - the scope and timetable; - the need for due diligence; - the question of whether the definition of light means of transport (LMT) should include only wheeled LMT or all LMT.
Scope and timetable
As a possible compromise gesture, the Presidency suggests, inter alia, to include immediately in the scope batteries for wheeled LMTs only, with a possible revision clause in the future.
Although a general agreement was reached on Article 6, concerning the restriction of hazardous substances in batteries, further work was needed to reach an agreement on the limitation of lead in Annex I. In order to allow for flexibility, the Presidency suggests a phase-out of zinc-carbon batteries with a transitional period of 1 year, as part of an overall compromise with a phase-out of zinc-air batteries with a transitional period of 5 years.
Regarding the carbon footprint declaration for electric vehicle and industrial batteries, the Presidency proposes to be flexible by shortening the deadline for industrial batteries, but would insist in return on the exclusion of industrial batteries with a capacity of less than 2 kWh. A revision clause, requested by the Parliament, would be accepted, while extending the deadline to 31 December 2028.
For the recycled content of batteries (Article 8), given the Parliament’s insistence on the inclusion of batteries for light means of transport (LMT) in the scope, the EU Council could agree to set a target for LMT batteries by 2035.
The European Parliament’s proposal in Article 7(3a) for a revision clause would be accepted, while extending the deadline to 31 December 2028. The Commission’s request to exclude non-rechargeable industrial batteries from the scope of Articles 7 and 10 could be accepted.
Due diligence (Chapter VIa)
Discussions are still ongoing on the structure of the provisions, but the Parliament has been open to the creation of a separate chapter on due diligence provisions, as proposed by the EU Council. The Presidency suggests that the third trilogue discusses the scope and timing of the due diligence provisions (Article 45a, Paragraph 1).
The EU Council prefers to limit the scope to batteries for electric vehicles and industrial batteries with a capacity of more than 2 kWh, while the European Parliament wants a broader scope. In view of a possible compromise, the Czech Presidency suggests that the EU Council should make a concession: to agree to shorten the period within which economic operators must comply with the due diligence requirements to 24 months after the entry into force of the regulation.
Member States are also invited to indicate possible flexibilities to extend the scope to all batteries, provided that an exception clause is added for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The collection targets for portable battery waste and the timetable (Article 48(4)) are likely to remain a key political issue until the end of the negotiations.
See the compromise proposal: https://aeur.eu/f/3E7 (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)