EU Battery and Waste Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542

On July 28, 2023, the Official Journal of the European Union published Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 on batteries and waste batteries, which repealed Directive 2006/66/EC and came into effect on the 20th day after its publication. The new regulation regulates the entire lifecycle of batteries from production to reuse and recycling, ensuring their safety, sustainability, and competitiveness, and has a great impact on battery related enterprises.

Scope of application of battery regulations

The new battery regulations apply to all types of batteries, which are divided into five categories based on their design purpose: portable batteries, LMT batteries (light means of transport batteries), SLI batteries (starting, lighting, and ignition batteries), industrial batteries, and electric vehicle batteries.

Overview of Battery Regulatory Requirements

The new battery regulations stipulate the requirements for sustainability and safety of batteries (including harmful substances, carbon footprint, recycled raw materials, electrochemical performance and durability, disassembly and replaceability, etc.), labeling, identification and information requirements (including general information, capacity information, QR code, trash can identification, battery health status and expected life, etc.), consistency requirements for batteries (including compliance presumption, commonly used specifications, conformity assessment, EU conformity declaration and CE mark, etc.), and at the same time, the regulations impose due diligence obligations on economic operators who put batteries on the market or put them into use. They also stipulate green public procurement requirements when purchasing batteries or products containing batteries, as well as extended producer responsibility, waste battery management and Electronic passport and other requirements.

Comparison of New and Old Requirements for Hazardous Substance Control in Batteries

The new regulations mention that in addition to meeting the hazardous substance requirements specified in Appendix XVII of the EU REACH regulation and the EU ELV directive, batteries must not contain substances restricted by the following table:

Requirements for updating battery label identification

General information: All batteries come with labels containing basic information about the battery, including manufacturer information, battery type, chemical composition, hazardous substances other than lead, cadmium, mercury, key raw materials, and 10 other items;

Capacity information: Rechargeable portable batteries, LMT batteries, and SLI batteries should be labeled with capacity information, and non rechargeable portable batteries should also be labeled with the minimum average duration and marked as "non rechargeable";

QR code: Batteries should be accompanied by a QR code, which contains different information for different types of batteries;

Separate collection symbol for batteries: Garbage bin label. Batteries with cadmium content exceeding 0.002% or lead content exceeding 0.004% should have corresponding chemical element symbols added under the garbage bin label;

CE marking: All batteries should be affixed with CE marking before being put on the market.

Other requirements of the new regulations

The new regulations also stipulate requirements regarding the carbon footprint of batteries, the content of recycled cobalt, lead, lithium, and nickel in active materials, electrochemical performance and durability, as well as disassembly and replaceability. Specific requirements and compliance dates vary for different types of batteries. For example, carbon footprint requirements for electric vehicle batteries, rechargeable industrial batteries, and LMT batteries are as follows:

Specific requirements for carbon footprint

1. Electric vehicle batteries, rechargeable industrial batteries with a capacity greater than 2 kWh, and LMT batteries should draft a carbon footprint statement, which should include at least administrative information about the manufacturer, battery model, geographical location of the battery production plant, identification number of the EU battery conformity declaration, and other information.

2. Electric vehicle batteries, rechargeable industrial batteries with a capacity greater than 2 kWh, and LMT batteries must be labeled with clear, legible, and indelible labels indicating the carbon footprint of the battery and the carbon footprint performance level of the relevant battery model corresponding to each manufacturing factory.

3. The technical documents mentioned in Annex VIll for electric vehicle batteries, rechargeable industrial batteries with a capacity greater than 2 kWh, and LMT batteries should demonstrate that the lifecycle carbon footprint value of each manufacturing plant's relevant battery model is below the maximum threshold specified in the authorization act.

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