Batteries

Batteries

Batteries Legislation

Batteries are regulated in the UK primarily through:

•
the Batteries and Accumulators (Placing on the Market) Regulations 2008, SI 2008/2164 (as amended) which covers restrictions on the use of certain substances in batteries and labelling requirements
•
the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009, SI 2009/890 (WBAR 2009) (as amended) which provides a system for the separate collection, treatment and recycling of waste batteries and enables the UK to meet its waste battery collection targets

Post-Brexit further secondary legislation has been passed to ensure the continued functioning of these regulations, and to amend cross-references to EU Directives, including the Batteries Directive 2006/66/EC . This secondary legislation includes the Waste (Miscellaneous Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, SI 2019/188 and the Waste and Environmental Permitting etc (Legislative Functions and Amendment etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, SI 2020/1540.

The regulation of batteries is part of the extended producer responsibility regime.

For more information on Extended Producer Responsibility, see Practice Note: Waste producer responsibility—potential liabilities.

For information on the Batteries Directive 2006/66/EC, see Practice Note: Batteries Directive—snapshot.

Types of batteries and accumulators

There are

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