Omnibus: European Commission proposes delay of 2 years to the Battery Due Diligence Regulation 2023/1543

Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 as regards obligations of economic operators concerning battery due diligence policies

Battery raw material supply chains are affected by a shifting geopolitical landscape. This leaves the battery industry with many challenges in particular related to sourcing raw materials. It takes time to analyse and adjust supply chains. Furthermore, one of the battery due diligence obligations is that economic operators’ battery due diligence policies are verified by a notified body (‘third-party verification’). Only about half of the Member States have appointed their notifying authority in charge of the assessment, notification and monitoring of conformity assessment bodies.

In many cases such applications would be based on accreditation, but the European co-operation for Accreditation association has not been able to determine a standard for the accreditation of notified bodies for battery due diligence. It instead indicated that this should rely on schemes approved by the European Commission.

For these reasons, the Commission considers that the date of application of the battery due diligence obligations specified in Article 48(1) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 should be postponed by two years to allow economic operators placing batteries on the EU market to be better prepared, with the help of guidelines, and to allow time to resolve difficulties with the availability of notified bodies.