UK guidelines published as batteries legislation enters into force
The UK's department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) has published updated guidance notes to accompany its waste batteries and accumulators Regulations 2009 (Statutory Instrument 2009/890). This guidance may well be of interest to Hong Kong manufacturers and traders, as an example of how Directive 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators is being implemented in Member States.
As traders will be well aware, on 26 September 2006 the adopted text of Directive 2006/66/EC on Batteries and Accumulators and Waste Batteries and Accumulators was published in the Official Journal of the EU. This new Batteries Directive has the aim of maximising the separate collection and recycling of spent batteries and accumulators, and reducing the disposal of batteries and accumulators in the municipal waste stream. Key requirements include:
A partial ban on portable nickel-cadmium batteries that excludes batteries used in medical equipment, emergency lighting and alarm systems, and cordless power tools. However, the exemption for cordless power tools is subject to review after four years;
Collection targets for spent portable batteries; and
A ban on the disposal of untreated automotive and industrial batteries in landfill or by incineration.
Member States had until 26 September 2008 to implement the provisions of the Batteries Directive, and the UK duly set out new rules in Statutory Instrument 2008/2164, the Batteries and Accumulators (Placing on the Market) Regulations 2008. In accordance with the Batteries Directive, SI 2008/2164 also deals with technical requirements affecting the manufacture and the design of certain battery-powered equipment, including restrictions on the use of mercury and cadmium in new batteries, requirements for new appliances to be designed so that batteries can be easily removed, and new battery marking and labelling requirements.
Provisions in the Batteries Directive relating to waste batteries were transposed at a later date, in the UK, via the waste batteries and accumulators Regulations 2009. These Regulations compliment SI 2008/2164 and came into force on 5 May 2009 (except for provisions on the prohibition on disposing of waste automotive and industrial batteries in a landfill or by incineration and the requirement for approval of battery treatment operators and exporters, which come into force on 1 January 2010; and obligations and rights of distributors and other economic operators in relation to portable batteries, which come into force on 1 February 2010).
The waste batteries and accumulators Regulations 2009 set out requirements related to the collection, treatment and recycling of waste automotive, industrial and portable batteries. It includes producer responsibility requirements for those placing new batteries on the UK market and requirements for those selling new portable batteries, or collecting, treating, recycling or exporting automotive, industrial or portable batteries when they become waste. Traders should note that there are substantial differences in obligations depending on whether the batteries in question are automotive, industrial or portable; affected parties will need to be clear which type or types they deal with in order to establish how the Regulations affect them.
The requirements under the waste batteries and accumulators Regulations 2009 are broken down into six broad areas:
Requirements for new battery producers, including producer responsibility requirements, which mean that battery producers will have to fund the collection, treatment and recycling of waste batteries;
Requirements for new battery distributors, including requirements for portable battery distributors to have waste battery collection facilities;
Requirements for portable waste battery collection scheme operators setting out the criteria that battery producer compliance schemes will have to meet;
Requirements for waste battery treatment operators;
Requirements for waste battery exporters; and
Advice for consumers and businesses that buy and use batteries.
The guidance on the waste batteries and accumulators regulations 2009 is a useful source of information, guiding producers through definitions, requirements and responsibilities. For example, the guidance clarifies that the term "producer", as referred to in the Regulations, does not necessarily refer to the manufacturer of the batteries, instead, the emphasis is on whoever is placing them on the UK market first. The guidance also sets out some concrete examples, e.g., setting out examples of non-producers such as: a company that imports batteries into the UK and then sells them overseas without placing any on the UK market is not a producer; or a company that buys batteries wholesale from another company inside the UK is not a producer.
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