EU Agrees New Law on More Sustainable and Circular Batteries

In December 2022 the European Parliament and Council reached a provisional agreement on the revision of the EU Batteries Directive 2006/66/EC. The new Regulation, which will be directly applicable in all EU Member States, will cover the whole battery life cycle of all batteries sold in the EU. Amongst other measures, the Regulation foresees that minimum levels of recovered cobalt (16%), lead (85%), lithium (6%) and nickel (6%) from manufacturing and consumer waste must be reused in new batteries. Regulation will apply to manufacturers and importers of batteries in the EU.