EU battery take-back duties cover imported EVs as new waste rules approach

The European Union will apply new battery waste classifications from December 9, 2026, bringing waste lithium-based batteries and related recycling black mass under hazardous waste controls. Chinese-made electric vehicles sold in the bloc are already covered by battery take-back duties, with separate rules governing shipments across borders.

The delegated decision published in the EU’s Official Journal covers waste lithium-based batteries and related intermediate fractions containing mixed electrode materials after thermal or mechanical treatment of waste batteries and battery manufacturing waste. The powdered recycling material is commonly known as black mass. An official corrigendum published on August 19, 2025, corrected the application date to December 9, 2026.

The classifications will operate alongside existing EU export restrictions. The European Commission’s waste shipment guidance says exports of hazardous waste for recovery to countries outside the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development are already banned. China is not an OECD member, so relevant batteries and black mass that remain hazardous waste will fall under that prohibition.

For collection and treatment, the EU already has a system based on extended producer responsibility. The waste management provisions of its Batteries Regulation have applied since August 18, 2025, including to batteries incorporated in vehicles. Importers first supplying batteries in a Member State, as well as manufacturers, distributors or cross-border distance sellers meeting the legal definition, can be responsible producers and must register in the markets concerned.

Under the regulation, responsible producers or their appointed producer responsibility organisations must accept waste EV batteries from end-users free of charge. They cannot require a new purchase or restrict acceptance to batteries previously bought from them. Producers fund the statutory costs of collection, subsequent transport and treatment.

Waste batteries may be treated in permitted facilities, including in another Member State or outside the EU where waste shipment rules allow it. The regulation does not assign a recycling destination according to where the vehicle or battery was manufactured, and does not require batteries from Chinese-made EVs to be returned to China when they become waste.

Vehicle treatment operators must hand the resulting waste batteries to the relevant producers, appointed responsibility organisations or legally selected waste management operators, and retain handover records.

EU rules distinguish used batteries from waste. Shipments of functioning batteries intended for direct reuse generally require evidence such as functionality assessments, transaction documents and suitable packaging, with exceptions for documented cases including certain warranty returns. Waste status depends on the facts and whether the holder discards, intends to discard or must discard the battery, rather than the description given to the shipment.

The EU’s waste shipment framework is in transition. According to the Commission’s timetable, most provisions of the new regulation have applied since May 21, 2026, while most new export rules apply from May 21, 2027. Existing hazardous waste export bans remain in place. Separate provisions require take-back or alternative treatment for shipments that cannot be completed as intended or are illegal; their country of dispatch is not necessarily the vehicle’s manufacturing country.

China also imposes import restrictions. Joint Announcement No. 53 of 2020, issued by its environment ministry and three other authorities, has banned solid waste imports by any means since January 1, 2021. The prohibition covers waste EV batteries abroad that legally constitute solid waste, irrespective of whether they were originally manufactured in China.

A separate Chinese announcement, No. 14 of 2025, has allowed imports since August 1, 2025, of recycled black mass for lithium-ion batteries that meets prescribed requirements and is not solid waste. The arrangement covers qualifying recycled feedstock subject to inspection, not whole waste EV battery packs. Shipments from the EU to China remain subject to both EU classification at export and Chinese import rules.

The EU also sets quantitative recycling targets. In an assessment published on September 11, the Commission found the existing recycling efficiency and material recovery targets appropriate and saw no grounds to revise them. Recycling efficiency for lithium-based batteries, measured by average weight, must reach 65% by the end of 2025 and 70% by the end of 2030.

Material recovery targets are 50% for lithium and 90% each for cobalt, copper, lead and nickel by the end of 2027. They rise to 80% for lithium and 95% for the other four materials by the end of 2031. These targets measure recovery of the specified materials and are accounted for separately from recycling efficiency based on battery weight.

Under the current timetable, EV batteries placed on the EU market or put into service from February 18, 2027, must also have a digital battery passport. It will hold the prescribed model and individual battery information, with access governed by the applicable rules.

The vehicle end-of-life framework is also changing. The EU’s new regulation on vehicle circularity and end-of-life management entered into force on August 13 this year, with the Commission listing September 1, 2028, as its application date. The existing End-of-Life Vehicles and 3R Type Approval Directives apply until then, while battery waste duties already in place continue under the Batteries Regulation.