Battery Due Diligence: Council confirms delay

On 18 July, the Council of the EU formally adopted a new law postponing the application of due diligence obligations under the EU Battery Regulation by two years, from August 2025 to August 2027.

This “stop-the-clock” measure, previously endorsed by the European Parliament’s ENVI Committee, is part of the broader Omnibus IV simplification package. It aims to give battery producers and exporters more time to prepare for the upcoming requirements.

Under the Regulation, battery manufacturers are required to implement environmental and social due diligence systems, verified by third-party auditors, to mitigate adverse impacts across the supply chain.

However, industry stakeholders had raised concerns over the lack of authorised verification bodies and limited implementation guidance.

In response, the Commission will now publish detailed guidelines at least one year before the obligations enter into force.

The Commission has also published a delegated act establishing new rules for calculating and verifying recycling efficiency and material recovery from waste batteries.

The act, which entered into force on 24 July 2025, introduces harmonised methods for recyclers to measure performance and report results to national authorities.

It specifically targets the recovery of critical raw materials, such as cobalt, lithium, copper, nickel, and lead.

The new methodology covers batteries containing lead-acid, lithium, nickel-cadmium and other chemistries.

It supports the ambitious recovery targets already laid out in Annex XII of the Battery Regulation, including a 70% recycling efficiency target for lithium batteries by 2030 and recovery rates of up to 95% for certain metals by 2031.

The delegated act is based on technical recommendations from the Joint Research Centre and aims to level the playing field for recyclers across the EU by enforcing consistent measurement criteria.

It is not only about recycling processes and compliance, it is also about networking. ERP shares knowledge, insights, and news so that together we can promote the sustainable agenda.