L 191/2
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
28.7.2023
(3)
It is also necessary to update Union law on the management of waste batteries and to take measures to protect the environment and human health by preventing or reducing the adverse impacts of the generation and management of waste, by reducing the impact of resource use and by improving resource efficiency.
Such measures are crucial for the transition to a circular and climate-neutral economy and toxic-free environment, and for the Union’s long-term competitiveness and strategic autonomy.
They can create important economic opportunities, increasing synergies between the circular economy and energy, climate, transport, industry and research policies, and protecting the environment and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
(4)
Directive 2006/66/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) has brought about an improvement in the environmental performance of batteries and established some common rules and obligations for economic operators, in particular through harmonised rules for the heavy metal content and labelling of batteries and rules and targets for the management of all waste batteries, based on extended producer responsibility.
(5)
The Commission’s reports on the implementation, impact and evaluation of Directive 2006/66/EC submitted in 2019 highlighted not only the achievements but also the limitations of that Directive, in particular against a fundamentally changed context characterised by the strategic importance of batteries and their increased use.
(6)
The Communication of the Commission of 17 May 2018 on ‘Europe on the move – Sustainable Mobility for Europe: safe, connected and clean’ includes the Strategic Action Plan on Batteries.
That action plan sets out measures to support efforts to build a battery value chain in Europe, covering raw materials extraction, sustainable sourcing and processing, sustainable battery materials, cell manufacturing as well as re-use and recycling of batteries.
(7)
In the European Green Deal, the Commission confirmed its commitment to implement the Strategic Action Plan on Batteries and stated that it would propose legislation to ensure a safe, circular and sustainable battery value chain for all batteries, including to supply the growing market of electric vehicles.
(8)
In its conclusions of 4 October 2019 on ‘More circularity – Transition to a sustainable society’, the Council called, inter alia, for coherent policies supporting the development of technologies that improve the sustainability and circularity of batteries to accompany the transition to electro-mobility.
Furthermore, the Council called for an urgent revision of Directive 2006/66/EC, which should include all relevant battery materials and which should consider, in particular, specific requirements for lithium and cobalt as well as a mechanism allowing the adaptation of that Directive to future changes in battery technologies.
(9)
The Communication of the Commission of 11 March 2020 on ‘A new Circular Economy Action Plan – For a cleaner and more competitive Europe’ states that the proposal for a new regulatory framework for batteries will consider rules on recycled content and measures to improve the collection and recycling rates of all batteries, in order to ensure the recovery of valuable materials and to provide guidance to consumers and will address the possible phasing out of non-rechargeable batteries where alternatives exist.
Furthermore, it is stated that sustain­ ability and transparency requirements will be considered, taking into account the carbon footprint of battery manufacturing, the ethical sourcing of raw materials and the security of supply in order to facilitate re-use, repurposing and recycling of batteries.
(10)
Addressing the entire life cycle of all batteries placed on the Union market requires the setting up of harmonised product and marketing requirements, including conformity assessment procedures, as well as requirements to fully address the end-of-life stage of batteries.
Requirements concerning the end-of-life stage are necessary to address the environmental implications of the batteries and, in particular, to support the creation of recycling markets for batteries and markets for secondary raw materials from waste batteries.
In order to reach the envisaged objectives of addressing the whole life cycle of a battery in one legal instrument while avoiding barriers to trade and a distortion of competition and safeguarding the integrity of the internal market, the rules setting out the requirements for batteries should be of uniform application for all economic operators across the Union and not leave room for divergent implementation by Member States.
Directive 2006/66/EC should therefore be replaced by a Regulation.
(3) Directive 2006/66/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 September 2006 on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators and repealing Directive 91/157/EEC (OJ L 266, 26.9.2006, p. 1).