Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on batteries and accumulators and spent batteries and accumulators’ (COM(2003) 723 final – 2003/0282 (COD))
Date: 2004-04-28
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: EU environmental policy, electrical engineering, electricity storage device, electronic waste, environmental protection, legal basis, waste recycling

30.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 117/5

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Directive of the
European Parliament and of the Council on batteries and accumulators and spent batteries and
accumulators’

(COM(2003) 723 final – 2003/0282 (COD))

(2004/C 117/02)

On 11 December 2003, the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee,
under Articles 95 and 175 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the ‘Proposal for a
Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on batteries and accumulators and spent batteries
and accumulators’ (COM(2003) 723 final - 2003/0282 (COD)).

The Section for Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment, which was responsible for preparing
the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 5 April 2004. The rapporteur was Mr
Pezzini.

At its 408th plenary session (meeting of 28 April 2004), the European Economic and Social Committee
unanimously adopted the following opinion.

1.

Introduction

1.1
The issue of batteries and accumulators has been the
subject of debate for a number of years now because of the
scale of the phenomenon: approximately 800 000 tonnes of
automotive batteries, 190 000 tonnes of industrial accumula-
tors and 160 000 tonnes of portable batteries are placed on the
European market each year.

The legislation proposed is in line with the objectives set
1.5
by the Sixth Community Environment Action Programme (1),
with the
strategy on the prevention and recycling of
waste – which the Committee has already endorsed (2) – and,
lastly, with Directive 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles (3) and
Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equip-
ment (4). The Committee has expressed its opinion on the latter
two directives as well on several occasions (5), advocating the
introduction of ambitious targets for recovery, re-use and recy-
cling (CES 1407/2000, point 3.4.1).

Furthermore, the sector is growing fast, not least as a
1.2
result of the development of new electronic consumer appli-
ances. The world market is increasing in value by around 9 %
every year. In terms of quantity, the annual increase in tonnes
is approximately 1 % for batteries and 1.5 % for industrial
batteries and accumulators.

1.3
Lastly, it must be pointed out that, with the increase we
hope and expect to see in the use of renewable energy sources
such as wind or solar energy to produce electricity, the need
for proper technology for storing this electricity will increase
factor
considerably. This will be an additional substantial
contributing to the demand for a growing market in powerful,
safe batteries and accumulators.

1.4
The current European legislation, particularly the legisla-
tion on batteries, does not appear to have succeeded in control-
ling the risks posed by waste effectively, and it has not created
a uniform framework for battery collection and recycling. In
2002, less than half the total volume of portable batteries sold
was collected and recycled, the majority being disposed of in
the environment. However, the majority of automotive and
industrial batteries and accumulators are already being collected
because of the commercial value of recycled lead and the exis-
tence of proper collection systems
industrial nickel-
cadmium accumulators.

for

1.6
Lastly, it must be pointed out that the Commission has
recently adopted a proposal for a framework directive on estab-
lishing a framework for the setting of eco-design requirements
for energy-using products (6), on which the Committee has
drawn up an opinion (7); the Commission intends the environ-
mental aspects of all energy-using products to be incorporated
at the design stage. Within and in line with this framework,
implementing directives for each product would be drawn up
on the basis of Article 95(3) of the EC Treaty.

1.7
Before submitting the current proposal, the Commission
carried out an in-depth impact assessment (Extended Impact
Assessment – ExIA), which weighed up the best long-term poli-
tical solutions. As part of this exercise, it held a public stake-
holder consultation which saw the participation of approxi-
mately 150 stakeholders, including national, regional and local
authorities, battery and accumulator firms and associations, and
various non-governmental organisations and consumer and
retailer organisations.

(1) OJ L 242, 10.9.2002.
(2) EESC opinion CESE 1601/2003 of 10-11 December 2003.
(3) OJ L 269, 21.10.2000.
(4) OJ L 37, 13.2.2003.
(5) ESC opinion CES 289/1998 of 26/2/1998 and ESC opinions CES

1407/2000 and CES 937/2003 of 17 July 2003.

(6) COM 2003/453 of 1.8.2003.
(7) CESE 505/04.

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2. Main elements of the proposal for a directive

The main aims of the proposal, which covers all types of

2.1
batteries and accumulators, are as follows:

— to introduce a ban on the landfilling and incineration of

batteries and accumulators,

— to promote effective collection schemes (minimum of 160
grams per inhabitant per year for portable batteries) which
involve no cost for the consumer,

— to set recycling output

targets,

in order to ensure the

proper functioning of the internal market,

— to reduce collection and recycling costs as a result of the

higher collection rates introduced.

The principal measures contained in the Commission's

2.2
proposal can be summarised as follows:

a) the repeal of the existing directives (1) on both batteries and
thereof with a new

accumulators, and the replacement
single legal instrument;

e) the establishment of a uniform minimum target across the
European Union of 160 grams per inhabitant
for the
collection of all spent portable batteries and accumulators
as a basis for efficient national collection schemes; an addi-
tional specific monitored collection target of at least 80 %
is to be set for nickel-cadmium batteries and accumulators
because of their hazardousness;

f) a requirement for Member States to ensure that producers
of batteries and accumulators, or third parties acting on
their behalf, set up recycling facilities, with the possibility
of exporting spent products for further treatment;

g) a requirement for Member States to promote the use of
advanced recycling technologies and participation in the
Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS);

h) recycling requirements, with higher efficiencies for nickel-
cadmium and lead-acid batteries, to be updated regularly in
line with technical progress;

i) a requirement for Member States to ensure that producers
finance the management of spent batteries and accumula-
tors, providing adequate guarantees by their inclusion in a
specific register; in addition, to facilitate the possibility of
financial agreements being concluded between producers
and users, where industrial and automotive batteries are
concerned;

j) a list of the information which must be provided to the
to mark
symbol. Products containing
lead or cadmium must be marked with the

consumer and a requirement
products with a special
mercury,
chemical symbol of the metal in question;

for producers

b) an obligation to collect and recycle all spent batteries and
accumulators, in order to avoid their incineration or final
disposal and to make it possible to recover the different
metals which they contain;

k) a review clause, with reviews based on evaluation of the
results of monitoring. The ensuing report is to be published
in the Official Journal;

c) the introduction at EU level of a framework regulating
national collection, recycling and promotion schemes in
terms of subsidiarity. Under the new provisions, producers,
wholesalers and retailers, importers and exporters will be
required to take back industrial batteries and accumulators,
while consumers will be able to return portable batteries
and accumulators free of charge. As regards automotive
batteries and accumulators, the rules laid down in Directive
2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles will continue to apply;

l) the option of using environmental

agreements with
economic operators to transpose certain parts of the Direc-
tive;

m) a requirement

for Member States to establish effective,

proportionate and dissuasive penalties.

d) the prohibition of the final disposal of industrial and auto-
motive batteries and accumulators in landfills or by incin-
eration;

(1) Council Directive 91/157/EEC in OJ L 78, 26.3.1991, as amended
by Commission Directive 98/101/EC in OJ L 1, 5.1.1999, with
references to:
Commission Directive 93/86/EEC in OJ L 264, 23.10.1993
Commission Decision 2000/532/EC in OJ L 226, 6.9.2000
Commission Communication COM(2003) 301
Commission Communication COM(2003) 302.

3. General comments

3.1
The Committee supports the objectives of ensuring
consistency between Community legislation on batteries and
accumulators and of streamlining and simplifying the complex
documentation and consolidating it
into a single legislative
instrument. The resulting harmonised standards would ensure
greater protection of the environment in a competitive Euro-
pean single market which is respectful of materials and natural
resources.

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3.2
The Committee feels, however, that, as far as possible,
the scope of Directive 2002/96/EC on WEEE should be
extended to cover all types of batteries and accumulators, in
order to avoid both mushrooming of legislation and procedures
and duplication. Indeed, Directive 2002/96/EC on WEEE will
have
to be implemented by the Member States as of
2004 – some parts coming into force as of 2006 – with the
introduction of collection, recycling and monitoring schemes,
national WEEE registers, arrangements for apportionment of
responsibility and financing.

— Article 175, which allows legislation enhancing environ-
mental protection to differ between the Member States, but
which cannot guarantee harmonised standards that are
binding throughout the European single market;

— the current dual legal basis – Article 95 and Article 175 –
for the single directive currently being proposed: Article
95(1) for Chapters II, III, VIII and Annex II, and Article
175(1) for Chapters IV, V, VI and VII.

As regards the present proposal

3.3
Committee points out the need for a legal basis ensuring:

for a directive,

the

— harmonised standards, compliance with which can be fully
monitored with comprehensive penalties for non-compli-
ance, applying to all producers, both EU and non-EU, who
place batteries and accumulators on the European market;

— high levels of environmental and public health protection;

— a completely level playing field for operators,

including
where operators are from different countries, as regards
equal rights where choice and incentives are concerned and
equal obligations in the areas of production and marking,
registration and monitoring, collection and recycling;

— promotion of innovation and technical and technological
progress, not least given the likely increase in the use of
safe batteries and accumulators
storing renewable
energy;

for

— effectiveness and sustainability of costs and procedures,
securing the sustainable development of the most competi-
tive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010;

— fixed permissible recycling rates which are certain and

measurable;

— uniform national registration and guarantee measures for
placing products on the market and the mutual recognition
of such measures,
in order to avoid the extra burden of
registering more than once.

In this regard, the Committee believes that there are four

3.4
possible options:

3.5
In this regard, the Committee would point out that there
are numerous directives with a substantial environmental
protection component which are based on Article 95 of the EC
Treaty, such as the Directive on waste management, the Packa-
ging Directive, the Directive on the restriction of the use of
certain hazardous substances in electric and electronic equip-
ment (RoHS) (1) and Directive 91/157/EEC on batteries and
substances (2),
accumulators
which the Commission's proposal is intended to supersede. The
Committee would, in addition, point out that Article 95(5) and
(6) authorise Member States wishing to do so to go further
where environmental protection is concerned, upon presenta-
tion of proper grounds.

certain dangerous

containing

In view of the requirements relating to the legal basis
3.6
described in point 3.3 and the considerations expressed in
point 3.5 above, and in view of the need to provide a single,
coherent,
the
future legislation,
Committee recommends the adoption of a single directive.

simplified framework for

As

far as

the legal basis

3.7
is concerned, while the
Committee endorses the possibility and compatibility of using
both Article 95 (harmonisation of the internal market) and
Article 175 (environmental protection) it feels that it would be
appropriate for a directive to be adopted with a single legal
basis as far as possible, and for the directive to be based as fully
as possible on Article 95, to ensure equal treatment and costs
across the board for products freely circulating on the Euro-
pean single market, with all due consideration for the need to
provide high levels of environmental protection while avoiding
distortion of competition and unequal treatment and without
increasing or duplicating administrative costs or tasks.

— splitting the present proposal into two proposals for direc-
tives, each with its own single legal basis: Article 95 of the
EC Treaty for the part of the directive relating to technical
specifications and Article 175 of the EC Treaty for the part
for which responsibility is delegated to the Member States
under the subsidiarity principle;

— Article 95, in particular paragraph 3 thereof, which would
ensure a coherent, harmonised approach and a legislative
framework which is uniformly binding throughout the EU,
with free-flowing production, sale and marketing in all the
markets of the Union, as a response to the globalisation of
the world batteries market;

In the event that it be deemed essential to use Article
3.8
175,
in addition to Article 95, the Committee recommends
that Article 175 be used as the basis for the provisions on
national collection schemes (Chapter IV), treatment and recy-
cling schemes (Chapter V) and consumer information measures
(Chapter VII). However, the remaining provisions – in particu-
lar those relating to registration systems – should be harmo-
nised pursuant to Article 95 in order to ensure a genuine single
market.

(1) Directive 2002/95/EC of 27 January 2003 in OJ L 37 of

13.02.2003 – EESE Opinion in OJ C 116, 19.12.2001.

(2) OJ L 78, 26.3.1991.

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3.9
The proposal covers all types of batteries and accumula-
tors of all dimensions and categories, except those used for
national security or for military or space research. While the
Committee acknowledges the reasons for excluding these cate-
gories, it feels, in view of the large-scale use of batteries and
accumulators in military and security applications, that the
Member States should be given responsibility for properly
addressing the issue of the use, collection and recycling of
batteries and accumulators, using their own methods and
procedures, with due consideration for the need to secure high
levels of environmental and health protection.

the principle that each ‘producer’

3.10
The Committee believes it is important, for the sake of
uniformity of EU legislation, that all directives should use the
same definitions. Consequently, the draft directive's definition
of ‘producer’ should agree with the definition used in the WEEE
Directive, viz. producers and retailers of own-label goods, and
importers and exporters. The Committee stresses the impor-
is individually
tance of
responsible for placing the product on the market, and the
importance of the guarantees to be provided by ‘producers’ to
the national registers as regards the collection, treatment and
recycling of industrial and automotive batteries and accumula-
tors and the treatment of portable batteries. Moreover, each
link in the collection chain – town councils, retailers, consu-
mers, producer-importers and public authorities – should be
responsible for their own part of the process.

3.11
The Committee would stress the importance of making
collection schemes, as far as possible, consistent with or similar
to those provided for by other directives and, in particular the
schemes provided for by the WEEE Directive. The Committee
endorses the proposed collection levels (grams per inhabitant
per year) for all spent portable batteries and accumulators, to
be introduced as of five and a half years from the adoption of
the directive. There are already effective schemes for the collec-
tion and recycling of automotive and industrial batteries and
accumulators, in the form of take-back agreements and Direc-
tive 2000/53/EC as regards end-of-life vehicles. In terms of the
percentage
the
proposed target of 80 % in five years may, perhaps, be too
ambitious and compliance difficult
to monitor, particularly
where portable batteries are concerned.

laid down for nickel-cadmium batteries,

3.12 Moreover, the Committee endorses the possibility of
extending the implementation deadlines for another three years
where mountain and rural areas, thinly populated areas and
islands are concerned.
It also endorses the application of
specific measures for the new Member States.

recyclable batteries collected should be recycled using the Best
Available Technology Not Entailing Excessive Cost (1). The
Committee can support the target of a recycling efficiency of
55 % – 65 % for lead-acid batteries and 75 % for nickel-
cadmium batteries – by average weight of
the materials
contained,
in order to ensure proper competition between
different kinds of recycling, modernised in line with technolo-
gical developments.

3.14 As regards financing systems, the Committee feels that
it must be possible for all market operators to pass on the costs
sustained to customers and to the end consumer, in the same
way as public operators pass on their costs to the public
through taxes on waste. Portable battery ‘producers’ are respon-
sible for financing transport from central collection points to
deposits and for financing recycling, while where the financing
of the collection, treatment and recycling of
industrial and
automotive batteries is concerned, producers and users must be
able to draw up cost-sharing agreements. Where export to
other Member States or third countries takes place (Article 16),
the Committee feels that any external effects of
transport
should be taken into account.

The Committee believes

3.15
that a proper policy of
informing, training and involving consumers and the public
from school and pre-school age onwards is essential for the
achievement of the proposed objectives of a single market and
environmental and health protection.

3.15.1 Although a number of northern European countries
have found that increasingly the sales price does not appear to
have had any repercussions, it has been calculated that, if all
the collection and recycling costs for spent portable batteries
were to be borne by the consumer, the annual increase in cost
per household would be between EUR 1 and EUR 2.

first

is needed is,

information campaigns,

3.15.2 What
and foremost, better
consumer information and more effective awareness-raising
campaigns targeting consumers. In this regard, in addition to
local and national
the Committee
proposes that specific education measures be implemented
from school age onwards,
in order to
encourage involvement
in the collection of spent portable
batteries, and on familiarity with the symbols used to mark
products. The economic operators in the production and distri-
bution chain should provide clear, simple instructions on the
storage conditions for the product and on the time frames for
decommissioning in dedicated collection points.

focusing on games,

As regards the recycling requirements proposed, the
3.13
Committee endorses the principle that all batteries must be
recycled except those which are not in good enough condition
for recycling or are to be considered hazardous waste. All

3.15.3 Ways of actively involving the consumer could be
explored by introducing incentives such as competitions in
which points are collected by taking back spent batteries, or
other financial incentives.

(1) BATNEEC.

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3.16
The Committee believes that the three-yearly report on
the implementation of the directive and its impact on the
smooth functioning of the internal market and environmental
and health protection should be accompanied not only by
summaries of the national reports but also by the recommenda-
tions of Community-level producer and consumer organisations
and by a report on technical and technological progress in the
field. These reports should be submitted to the Committee for
perusal.

4. Conclusions

4.1
The Committee stresses the importance of providing a
consistent regulatory framework with harmonised standards, so
as to ensure greater environmental protection in a competitive
European single market in batteries and accumulators.

4.2
The Committee also stresses the importance of preser-
ving the sustainability of an expanding market and its capacity
for innovation, avoiding excessive regulation hindering tech-
nical and technological progress, either in terms of extending a
product's life cycle – and thus limiting the amount of spent
products – or as regards increasing reliability, power and safety,
the
which have become necessary in view, not
growing need to store electricity produced by increasingly
widespread use of renewable energy sources, such as wind and
solar power.

least, of

The Committee reiterates the need to avoid mush-
4.3
rooming of legislation and procedures and the consequent risk
of creating more administration and barriers to the develop-
ment of innovative products.

The Committee endorses the possibility and compat-
4.4
ibility of using a single legal basis which includes both Article
95 and Article 175, each relating to a clearly specified, distinct
part of the directive. However, in order to ensure a high level
of environmental protection in a single market with a level
playing field, it would advocate the use as far as possible of
Article 95, with due consideration being given to the options
provided for in paragraph 3 (high level of protection) and in
paragraphs 5 and 6 (introduction or preservation of provisions
increasing protection).

Brussels, 28 April 2004.

4.5
In order to avoid unnecessary red tape, the Committee
stresses the need for collection, recycling and registration
schemes to be coordinated with the WEEE Directive.

The Committee stresses the importance of the principle
4.6
that each ‘producer’
is individually responsible for placing a
product on the market and the importance of the guarantees
which ‘producers’ are to provide for national registers under
harmonised registration systems. Moreover, each link in the
collection chain –
consumers,
town councils,
producer-importers, public authorities – should be responsible
for their own part of the process.

retailers,

4.7
The Committee endorses the principle that all batteries
should be recycled except those which are not in good enough
condition to be recycled and are to be considered hazardous
waste. All recyclable batteries collected should be recycled
according to the Best Available Technology Not Entailing
Excessive Cost (1).

4.8
As regards financing systems, the Committee feels that it
must be possible for all market operators to pass the costs
sustained on to customers and to the end consumer.

The Committee believes

4.9
a proper policy of
informing, training and involving consumers and the public
from school and pre-school age onwards is essential for the
achievement of the proposed objectives of a single market and
environmental and health protection.

that

4.10
The Committee believes that the three-yearly report on
the implementation of the directive and its impact on the
smooth functioning of the single market and on environmental
and health protection should also be submitted to the European
Economic and Social Committee in order to ensure the neces-
sary interaction with organised civil society.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Roger BRIESCH

(1) BATNEEC.