The first regulations of the new regulations will apply from February 18th EU regulation for batteries, which may be placed on the market. They affect all types of batteries and their entire life cycle, from production and composition, performance to disposal. “Batteries are a key product for the energy transition and for achieving the EU climate goals,” said Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke in July 2023 after the EU regulation was passed, which came into force on August 17, 2023. “By extracting more valuable resources from end-of-life batteries, we are improving recycling and reducing environmentally harmful mining in other parts of the world,” she continued.
A six-month deadline for implementation has now expired. One of the first innovations is that electric car batteries must show information about their CO2 footprint. There will be further gradual changes by 2027 in the increasingly increasing collection rate of used batteries, the obligation to replace batteries in smartphones and tablets, for example, and the introduction of a digital battery pass through a QR code that provides information for retailers and consumers.