May 29, 2025: The EU is set to give battery manufacturers an additional two years to prepare for the introduction of new ‘due diligence’ and transparency rules under the bloc’s Battery Regulation, approved in 2023.
The European Commission confirmed on May 21 it was proposing the move “to help the battery industry navigate the challenges of sourcing raw materials in uncertain times”.
The deadline for complying with these rules will be pushed back to 2027, if the proposal is given the green light by the European Parliament and European Council.
This will also offer more time for the setting up of third-party verification bodies, the Commission said.
In addition, the due diligence guidelines will be published one year before the obligations take effect. This will give timely guidance to businesses and help ensure “smoother implementation”.
The Commission said in an explanatory note that battery raw material supply chains are affected by a shifting geopolitical landscape, leaving the battery industry with many challenges, particularly related to sourcing raw materials.
“It takes time to analyze and adjust supply chains,” it said.
Due diligence schemes being developed by industry associations and groupings of interested organisations are expected to play an important role in the implementation of the battery due diligence obligations, the Commission said.
Meanwhile, schemes that address battery raw materials still need to be further developed and implemented.
The Commission’s climbdown on the due diligence deadline is the latest in a series of measures unveiled to shore up the EU’s still-nascent battery sector in the face of global competition.
Batteries International reported last March that Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, was planning a €1.8 billion ($2 billion) financial boost to secure battery raw materials needed to power Europe’s automotive industry.
She indicated that Europe’s cherished green agenda was no longer in the driving seat, as she pledged a more “pragmatic and flexible approach” on emissions targets to ensure development of the bloc’s battery sector for energy storage and EVs can accelerate.
Von der Leyen said the Commission was also looking into “direct production support” to companies producing batteries and “non-price criteria for components such as resilience requirements”, although no details were outlined.
Industry leaders indicated in 2023 that some of the ambitious recycling targets set out in the Battery Regulation might have little basis with current technological abilities to recover metals from battery scrap with the timeline proposed fanciful.
That was the implication of an after-presentation expert discussion at the Asian Battery Conference in Siem Reap on September 6.
