Europe’s metals & battery industries call for a coherent regulatory approach to chemicals management

Europe’s metals and batteries industries strongly support the European Commission’s Battery Alliance objectives. Our sectors are integral to supplying, producing and recycling Europe’s battery technologies. We are committed to establish world-leading batteries value chains in Europe. To support that ambition, we encourage the European Commission to ensure its Batteries Alliance and Chemicals Management objectives are aligned.

Several metals (including cobalt salts, lead and lead compounds, cadmium and cadmium compounds etc) used in batteries are subject to review under the EU REACH Regulation (EC 1907/2006), due to their hazardous properties. We are concerned that options to further restrict or even prohibit these substances would disrupt Europe’s battery value chains, without added environmental protection. In this paper, we recommend that the Commission considers upfront all different risk management options for strategic battery materials (& not only REACH authorisation).

We believe that more targeted risk management measures – such as occupational exposure limits or sectorial restrictions – will allow EU producers to maintain access to battery materials, while better guaranteeing protection of the environment and human health.

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