There are proposals to revise the existing European Directive on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators and repeal Directive 91/157/EEC. These were introduced as part of the Circular Economy package last December.

The European Commission has just completed a consultation which concentrated on the waste and recycling aspects of the legislation rather than the design and placing on the market.

We do not know how many changes to EU legislation will be implemented in the UK in future, but any UK companies selling in the EU market will still need to comply with requirements to join the appropriate national compliance scheme.

Likewise, the waste provisions applying in the EU will need to be met by any UK exporters, so companies will need to ensure they comply by joining appropriate compliance schemes (as they do now).

Again there is no indication of how the UK might implement any new waste collection and treatment provisions set for the EU at this stage.