Right after the completion of the trialogue between the EU commission, the EU parliament and the EU member states, the text of the new Batteries Regulation was published on the 18th January 2023 as Interinstitutional File 2020/0353 (COD).

The text now needs to be formally confirmed by the EU parliament and the Council before being published. 20 days after the publishing date, the regulation will be in force and then applies to the member states six months later.

In contrast to the current Batteries Directive the Batteries Regulation applies directly to the country legislation of each member state and does not require a national transposition, thus thriving for more efficiency and target achievement. However, a range of transition periods are to be expected related to the individual requirements that the Regulation stipulates.

Core elements of the Batteries Regulation are:

- new specification of the definition „battery“ (e.g. 5 kg weight limit for portable batteries and introduction of an „electric vehicle battery”)

- differentiation of the producer definition

- sustainability and safety requirements (e.g. removability and replacability of portable batteries during the lifetime of an appliance)

- labelling and information requirements (e.g. with QR code)

- conformity declaration of batteries

- empowerment of the EU-commission

- definition of obligations of economic operators along the delivery chain

- obligations for registration, information and reporting

- electronic exchange & information

The text of the Regulation is accessible here:

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-5469-2023-INIT/en/pdf