Directive 2008/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2008 amending Directive 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators, as regards the implementing powers conferred on the Commission
Date: 2008-03-11
Institutions: Council of the European Union, European Parliament
Subjects: European Commission, electricity storage device, environmental protection, marketing, powers of the institutions (EU), waste management

19.3.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 76/39

DIRECTIVE 2008/12/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 11 March 2008

amending Directive 2006/66/EC on batteries

and accumulators

and waste batteries

and

accumulators, as regards the implementing powers conferred on the Commission

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community, and in particular Article 175(1) thereof,

establishing the European

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and
Social Committee (1),

After consulting the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure
Article 251 of the Treaty (2),

laid down in

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Directive 2006/66/EC of the European Parliament and of
the Council (3) provides that certain measures are to be
adopted
Council Decision
1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the
procedures for
implementing powers
the exercise of
conferred on the Commission (4).

accordance with

in

the

introduced

Decision 1999/468/EC has been amended by Decision
2006/512/EC, which
regulatory
procedure with scrutiny for the adoption of measures
of general scope and designed to amend non-essential
elements of a basic instrument adopted in accordance
with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the
Treaty, inter alia, by deleting some of those elements or
by supplementing the instrument with new non-essential
elements.

In accordance with the statement by the European
the Commission (5)
Parliament,
for the regulatory
concerning Decision 2006/512/EC,
procedure with scrutiny to be applicable to instruments

the Council

and

(1) OJ C 175, 27.7.2007, p. 57.
(2) Opinion of the European Parliament of 24 October 2007 (not yet
and Council Decision of

Journal)

published in the Official
14 February 2008.

(3) OJ L 266, 26.9.2006, p. 1.
(4) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Decision as amended by Decision

2006/512/EC (OJ L 200, 22.7.2006, p. 11).

(5) OJ C 255, 21.10.2006, p. 1.

adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in
Article 251 of the Treaty which are already in force,
those instruments must be adjusted in accordance with
the applicable procedures.

The Commission should be empowered to adapt Annex
III and to adopt and revise detailed rules for exports and
for the labelling of batteries and accumulators. Since
those measures are of general scope and are designed
non-essential
to
of Directive
amend
elements
inter alia, by supplementing it with new
2006/66/EC,
non-essential
adopted in
they must be
elements,
accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny
provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.

Directive 2006/66/EC should therefore be amended
accordingly.

Since the amendments made to Directive 2006/66/EC by
this Directive are technical
in nature and concern
they do not need to be
committee procedure only,
transposed by the Member States.
is therefore not
necessary to lay down provisions to that effect,

It

(4)

(5)

(6)

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Amendments

Directive 2006/66/EC is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 10(4) shall be replaced by the following:

Transitional arrangements may be

‘4.
laid down in
accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in
Article 24(2)
to address difficulties faced by a Member
State in satisfying the requirements of paragraph 2 as a
result of specific national circumstances.

A common methodology shall be established for the calcu-
lation of annual sales of portable batteries and accumulators
to end-users by 26 September 2007. That measure, designed
to amend non-essential elements of this Directive by supple-
menting it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regu-
latory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 24(3).’;

L 76/40

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

19.3.2008

2. the first sentence of Article 12(6) shall be replaced by the

following:

‘6.
Annex III may be adapted or supplemented to take
account of technical or scientific progress. Those measures,
designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive,
inter alia, by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance
with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in
Article 24(3).’;

3. Article 15(3) shall be replaced by the following:

‘3.
Detailed rules for the implementation of this Article
shall be laid down, in particular criteria for the assessment of
equivalent conditions as referred to in paragraph 2. Those
measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this
Directive by
adopted in
accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny
referred to in Article 24(3).’;

supplementing

shall be

it,

4. Article 17 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 17

Registration

subject

Member States shall ensure that each producer is registered.
Registration shall be
same procedural
requirements in each Member State. Such requirements for
registration, designed to amend non-essential elements of
this Directive by supplementing it, shall be established in
accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny
referred to in Article 24(3).’;

to the

and appropriate use, shall be laid down no later than
26 March 2009. Those measures, designed to amend
non-essential elements of
this Directive by supple-
menting it, shall be adopted in accordance with the
referred to in
regulatory procedure with scrutiny
Article 24(3).’;

(b) paragraph 7 shall be replaced by the following:

‘7.
Exemptions from the labelling requirements of this
Article may be granted. Those measures, designed to
amend non-essential
this Directive by
supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with
the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in
Article 24(3).’;

elements of

6. Article 24(3) shall be replaced by the following:

reference

‘3. Where
paragraph,
Article 5a(1) to (4) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC
shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8
thereof.’

is made

this

to

Article 2

Entry into force

This Directive shall enter into force on the day following its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 3

Addressees

5. Article 21 shall be amended as follows:

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

(a) paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following:

‘2. Member States shall ensure that the capacity of all
portable and automotive batteries and accumulators is
indicated on them in a visible,
legible and indelible
form by 26 September 2009. Detailed rules for the
implementation
including
harmonised methods for the determination of capacity

requirement,

this

of

Done at Strasbourg, 11 March 2008.

For the European Parliament
The President

H.-G. PÖTTERING

For the Council
The President

J. LENARČIČ