EU Parliament and Council Reaches Deal on Batteries

Published on June 23, 2023

A week ago, the Parliament and the Council of the European Union reached an agreement ”°to overhaul EU rules on batteries and take into account technological developments and future challenges”±.

The agreed rules cover ”°the entire battery life cycle, from design to end-of-life and apply to all types of batteries sold in the EU”±. Notable parts about the rules include making batteries more user-serviceable. The rule mandated that ”°Three and a half years after the entry into force of the legislation, portable batteries in appliances must be designed so that consumers can easily remove and replace them themselves”±. This means if the rules were to be adopted, batteries of phones, or laptops as well as other portable electronics may be removable, and users can swap them out in case they fail, for instance.

In addition, the rule also required batteries to ”°carry labels and QR codes with information related to their capacity, performance, durability, chemical composition, as well as the 'separate collection' symbol”±.

According to the announcement made by the European Parliament, it still has to ”°formally endorse the text before its publication in the EU Official Journal shortly after and its entry into force”±.

Sources:

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20221205IPR60614/batteries-deal-on-new-eu-rules-for-design-production-and-waste-treatment

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20230609IPR96210/making-batteries-more-sustainable-more-durable-and-better-performing

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