The EU Council recently made available an early draft of a regulation on the capacity labelling of portable, secondary (rechargeable) and automotive batteries and accumulators. This draft regulation will be of significant interest to manufacturers and importers of batteries, accumulators and battery-operated goods, as they will need time to adapt their processes to any new capacity labelling requirements that are eventually introduced.
Once the draft is approved by both the council and the European Parliament, portable secondary (rechargeable) and automotive batteries and accumulators will have to be labelled so as to give a clear indication of their capacity.
These labels will have to include specific information in relation to the capacity of the batteries and accumulators, which will be determined according to International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards. The draft regulation also stipulates the minimum size and the location of such labels.
The requirements will apply to portable secondary (rechargeable) and automotive batteries and accumulators placed on the market 18 months after the regulation becomes binding law through its publication in the EU Official Journal. It is expected that this 18-month grace period will give manufacturers time to adapt their processes accordingly.
The draft regulation expressly excludes from its scope of application portable secondary batteries and accumulators which are incorporated or designed to be incorporated into appliances before being provided to end users and which are not intended to be removed.
The draft regulation states that the purpose of the capacity label is to provide useful, easily understandable and comparable information to end users who are purchasing automotive batteries and accumulators. To this end, the draft regulation sets out a number of specific requirements on capacity labelling:
- The capacity level of portable secondary (rechargeable) batteries, automotive batteries and accumulators is to be determined according to IEC standards, the application of which depends on the chemical substances contained in the batteries or accumulators.
- The unit of measurement of the capacity of such batteries and accumulators is the ampere hour. The information that must be included on the label and requirements regarding the label's design are set out.
- For portable secondary (rechargeable) batteries and accumulators, the rated capacity is to be set out in a specific numerical format depending on the substance contained in the battery or accumulator and the intended application of the batteries or accumulators in question.
- For portable secondary (rechargeable) batteries and accumulators, the minimum size and location of the capacity label is set out both for individual batteries and accumulators and for battery packs.
- For automotive batteries and accumulators, the capacity label must contain information as to the rated capacity and cold cranking performance. The minimum size and location of these labels is also stipulated in the draft.
- The exact requirements in relation to the information to be contained on the capacity label and the minimum sizes and location of the label can be found in the text of the draft at: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/10/st12/st12468.en10.pdf.
Sources at the European Commission have stressed that the regulation is still in draft form and has not yet been put forward for a first reading by the council or the European Parliament. Discussions are ongoing concerning whether provision will be made for the capacity labelling of portable non-rechargeable batteries. At a recent Technical
Adaptation Committee meeting on the EU Battery Directive (2006/66/EC), discussions centred on the possible capacity labelling systems for portable primary batteries.
Member state experts are concerned that the possible capacity labelling systems which are on the table for portable non-rechargeable batteries are either so detailed as to be unintelligible to the average consumer or so basic that they are of limited value and might not deliver the so-called 'capacity requirement' outlined in the directive. The next Technical Adaptation Committee meeting is expected to be held at the end of October 2010.
