REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Directive 2006/66/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators, and repealing Directive 91/157/EEC
Date: 2018-05-14
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: delegated legislation, electricity storage device, environmental protection, marketing standard, pollution control measures, powers of the institutions (EU), quality of the environment, storage of waste, waste disposal, waste recycling

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 14.5.2018 COM(2018) 266 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Directive 2006/66/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators, and repealing Directive 91/157/EEC  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL 
on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission 
pursuant to Directive 2006/66/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on 
batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators, and repealing 
Directive 91/157/EEC 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Directive  2006/66/EC  on  batteries  and  accumulators  and  waste  batteries  and 
accumulators 1 (the Batteries Directive) lays down rules to minimise the negative impact 
of batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators2 on the environment, 
thus  contributing  to  the  protection,  preservation  and  improvement  of  the  quality  of  the 
environment.  It  also  provides  for  measures  to  harmonise  requirements  concerning  the 
heavy  metal  content  and  labelling  of  batteries  and  accumulators,  and  so  to  ensure  the 
smooth  functioning  of  the  internal  market.  The  Directive  has  been  amended  several 
times.3  

The Directive empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts, as referred to in Article 
23a, with a view to: 

 

 

laying down criteria for the assessment of equivalent conditions for the recycling 
of waste batteries taking place outside of the EU, as provided for in Article 15(3), 
to supplement the rules referred to by Article 15(2),4  

laying  down  detailed  rules  as  regards  capacity  labelling  of  portable  and 
automotive batteries, as provided for in Article 21(2).  

  granting exemptions from the labelling requirements in Article 21. 

2.  LEGAL BASIS 

The  present  report  is  required  under  Article  23a  of  the  amended  Batteries  Directive. 
Under this article, the Commission has the power to adopt delegated acts for a period of 
five  years  from  30  December  2013. The  Commission is  required to  prepare  a  report  in 
respect of delegated powers, at the latest 9 months before the end of the five-year period. 
In accordance with Article 23a(2), the delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for 
periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes 
such an extension not later than three months before the end of each period. 

1  
2  

OJ L 266, 26.9.2006, p. 1–14  
In  the  following,  the  terms  ‘batteries’  and  ‘accumulators’  are  considered  synonyms  and  used 
indistinctively 

3   Directive 2008/12/EC, OJ L 76, 19.3.2008, p. 39; Directive 2008/103/EC, p. 7, OJ L 327, 5.12.2008, ; 

Directive 2013/56/EU, OJ L 329, 10.12.2013, p. 5. 

4   Regulation (EEC) No 259/93, OJ L30, 6.2.93, p. 1; Council Regulation (EC) No 1420/1999,OJ L166, 

1.7.1999, p. 9; Commission Regulation (EC) No 1547/1999,  OJ L 185, 17.7.1999, p. 1 

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3.  EXERCISE OF THE DELEGATION 

3.1.  Criteria  for  the  assessment  of  equivalent  conditions  for  the  recycling  of 
waste batteries and accumulators taking place outside of the EU, Article 
15(3) 

According  to  Article  15(2)  of  the  Directive,  waste  batteries  exported  out  of 
the EU shall count towards the fulfilment of the obligations and efficiencies 
laid down in Annex III to the Directive only if there is sound evidence that the 
the 
recycling  operation 
requirements  of  the  Directive.  Article  15(3)  empowers  the  Commission  to 
adopt  delegated  acts  to  lay  down  detailed  rules  at  this  respect,  in  particular 
criteria for the assessment of such equivalent conditions.  

took  place  under  conditions  equivalent 

to 

It should be noted that Article 10(3) of Directive 2012/19/EU of 4 July 2012 
on  waste  electrical  and  electronic  equipment  (WEEE)5  lays  down  a  similar 
provision  regarding  WEEE  exported  from  the  EU.  Since  the  environmental 
aspects  are  comparable,  the  obligations  considered  are  similar  and  the 
operators in charge of the activities concerned (collectors, exporters, recyclers 
and  public  authorities)  overlap  to  a  large  extent,  the  Commission  considers 
that provisions regarding such ‘equivalent conditions’ should follow the same 
approach for both areas.  

Criteria  for  the  assessment  of  equivalent  conditions  regarding  treatment  of 
WEEE exported from the EU have not yet been developed.6 The Commission 
plans  to  consider  any  criteria  regarding  the  appreciation  of  equivalent 
those  regarding  WEEE.  
conditions  for  batteries  recycling  following 
Furthermore, the Batteries Directive is currently subject to an evaluation, and 
relevant information collected in this process will also be assessed. 

3.2.  Detailed  rules  as  regards  capacity  labelling  of  portable  secondary 

(rechargeable) and automotive batteries, Article 21(2) 

Under Article 21(2) of the Directive, the Commission is empowered to adopt 
delegated  acts  laying  down  detailed  rules  to  supplement  the  requirement  to 
Member  States  to  ensure  that  the  capacity  of  all  portable  and  automotive 
batteries  and  accumulators  is  indicated  on  them  in  a  visible,  legible  and 
indelible  form,  including  harmonised  methods  for  the  determination  of 
capacity and appropriate use. 

In  2010  the  Commission  adopted  the  rules  as  regards  capacity  labelling  of 
portable 
and 
accumulators.7  The  possible  harmonisation  of  capacity  labelling  rules  for 
portable primary (non-rechargeable) batteries was also assessed.  

(rechargeable) 

automotive 

secondary 

batteries 

and 

5   OJ L 197, 24.7.2012, p. 38. 
6   As explained in more detail in the Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and to the 
Council on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to 
Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment, COM(2017) 172 final 

7   Commission Regulation (EU) No 1103/2010, OJ L 313, 30.11.2010 

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The  studies  conducted8  concluded  that  a  single,  simple  and  implementable 
capacity label for these battery types was not yet available. Subsequently, the 
Commission gave a mandate to the European Committee for Electrotechnical 
Standardization  (CENELEC)  to  evaluate  the  feasibility  of  determining  a 
standardized  method  for  the  capacity  marking  of  primary  portable  batteries. 
Their  review  concluded  that  no  appropriate  method  could  be  identified  as 
being available to comply with the Battery Directive. 9 

The situation has not changed since, leading the Commission to conclude that, 
at  present,  it  is  not  possible  to  identify  harmonised  methods  for  capacity 
labelling for portable primary batteries. 

The  Commission  will  assess  the  situation  again  once  the  current  process  of 
review of the Directive is concluded. 

3.3.  Granting exemptions to the labelling requirements established in Article 

21 of the Directive, Article 21(7) 

According to Article 21(7) of the Directive, the Commission is empowered to 
adopt delegated acts to grant exemptions from the labelling requirements set 
out in Article 21. In this regard, the Commission has no received any requests 
regarding the granting of exemptions from during the period covered by this 
report 

4.  CONCLUSIONS 

The Commission did not make use of the delegated power referred to in article 23a of the 
Batteries Directive during the period covered by this report. It may do so in the future, 
for the reasons given.  

The  Commission  invites  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  to  take  note  of  this 
report. 

8   http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/batteries/pdf/battery_report_june2010.pdf, 

9  

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/batteries/pdf/battery_report.pdf 
"Feasibility Study on Labelling and Efficiency of Primary Batteries (2012)" at:  
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/batteries/pdf/CENELEC%20feasibility%20study.pdf 

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