RECHARGE welcomes Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council and stresses country’s role in the open Batteries Regulation dossier

Following the thorough assessment of the Commission proposal for the planned Batteries Regulation (Progress Report) by the Portuguese Presidency, Slovenia will now be pivotal to ensuring a robust and facts-backed Council position. Moving forward, RECHARGE would like to reiterate some of our key policy calls:

• We call on policymakers to prioritize game-changing legislative measures such as due diligence and carbon intensity (see Articles 7, 39), compared to low-impact measures (see Articles 8, 10). If correctly implemented, both the carbon footprint and comprehensive due diligence across the value chain have an unsurpassed steering potential to push European competitiveness based on sustainability and responsibility.
• We call on policymakers to work towards essential policy areas instead of creating an environment of control and obligations. Batteries as well as the sectors they power are fast-paced and innovation-driven. A too stringent legislative framework risks stalling battery innovation and product development, eventually reducing the market reactiveness of European actors (see Articles 8, 11, 14, 59).
• We call on policymakers to ensure a timely yet technically robust implementation of the Batteries Regulation. Timelines shall be operationally feasible, and measures must be backed by a strong and complete assessment, covering environmental as well as social and economic aspects. Currently, this is not the case for some proposed measures (see Article 8).
• We call on policymakers to avoid overlaps with existing, especially horizontal legislation, as is currently the case with the introduction of a REACH-like restriction mechanism (see Articles 6 and 71).

For more information on the industry’s position, visit our dedicated Batteries Regulation page.