June 9, 2023: Europe is willing to engage in talks with battery industry leaders amid fears that new proposals could be ushered in to require lead metal to be listed on a chemicals authorization register, a top European Commission official said on June 7.
Industry leaders called for urgent talks after the European Chemicals Agency said in April it had officially submitted proposals for lead and seven other substances to be added to its REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) list — indicating that the substance will eventually be substituted and can only be used in the meantime with specific permission from the Commission.
Aurel Ciobanu-Dordea, who heads up the circular economy division in the Commission’s Directorate General for Environment, told the EUROBAT conference in Madrid while encouraging investments in the batteries sector was important, health concerns had to be taken into account.
However, he said the Commission was aware of contradictions in various regulations impacting the batteries sector and he told battery leaders: “Come and talk and engage with us.”
EUROBAT president and CEO of Hoppecke Batteries, Marc Zoellner, said the industry would take up the invitation.
However, he said the Commission urgently needed to give public commitments on future incentives and investments to support the battery sector based on a regulatory framework.