On 21 May, the European Commission released a proposal to postpone the battery due diligence obligations. The due diligence obligations for batteries were originally supposed to enter into force from 18 August this year. Today, July 18th, the European Council a new law to “ease EU rules and thus boost EU competitiveness in the field of batteries” (Press release).
Among the reasons for the postponement are the following:
Notified Bodies
The due diligence obligations include third-party verification by Notified Bodies. However, the designation of Notified Bodies is taking longer than expected. Only about half of the Member States have appointed their notifying authority to manage these Bodies. And there is still no standard for the accreditation of Notified Bodies.
Missing Guidelines
The proposal gives the European Commission more time to publish guidelines on the application of the due diligence requirements. These should already have been released on 18 February this year, but the deadline has now been extended to 26 July 2026.
CSDDD
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive ‘CSDDD’ (EU) 2024/1760 was adopted after the Battery Regulation. Both Regulations deal with due diligence obligations and recent delays and amendments to CSDDD have to be taken into account. The proposed postponement should arrange that guidelines under both pieces of legislation can be developed hand in hand.
Obligations
The obligations of economic operators as regards battery due diligence policies can be found in Chapter VII of the Batteries Regulation (EU) 2023/1542. They are applicable to companies with an annual net turnover above 40 million Euro.
The new law will enter into force as a matter of urgency the next day, taking into account the fast-approaching original deadline.
