The Bundestag has approved the Act adapting Battery Law to Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (Gesetz zur Anpassung des Batterierechts an die Verordnung (EU) 2023/1542), known as the Battery Law EU Adaptation Act, which aligns Germany’s national battery law with the EU Batteries Regulation. The Act was promulgated on 6 October 2025 and largely entered into force on 7 October 2025.
Background
The Batteries Regulation, which was implemented on 18 February 2024, provides a harmonised legal framework for the entire life cycle of batteries in the European Union. In Germany, the Batteries Act (Batteriegesetz, “BattG”), which transposed the now-defunct Battery Directive (Directive 2006/66/EC) into national law, was previously in force. The Battery Law EU Adaption Act replaces the BattG with a Battery Law Implementation Act (Batterierecht-Durchführungsgesetz, “BattDG”), which reflects the EU’s harmonisation of battery law and complements the EU Batteries Regulation. It is also aligned with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The current Federal Government took up and implemented the legislative proposal following the failure of the former government’s draft due to the premature end of the previous legislative period.
Current situation
Before the Batteries Regulation was adopted, the Battery Directive served as the main legal framework for batteries and waste batteries within the European Union. The Batteries Regulation is a key part of the European Green Deal and builds on the Commission’s Strategic Action Plan for Batteries, establishing a harmonised legal framework and standardising rules that previously differed across Member States. The Batteries Regulation takes a product-based approach that for the first time harmonises battery requirements across the entire product life cycle. The recycling obligations and the bans on certain substances from the Battery Directive have essentially all been incorporated into the Batteries Regulation. The primary innovation in the Batteries Regulation is supply chain due diligence: All economic actors along the supply chain must now fulfil a number of due diligence obligations, in particular compliance with international standards on the extraction of raw materials and the assessment of social and environmental risks in the supply chain. The Batteries Regulation also provides for batteries to be used for stationary energy storage when they have reached the end of their service life for their primary use. Specifically, that means electric vehicle batteries, for example, should not be disposed of at the end of their service life, but remanufactured and put to other use.
Overview of the BattDG’s provisions
The Batteries Regulation obliges Member States to issue national provisions in specific cases. The BattDG is intended to fulfil these regulatory requirements and also take into account opening clauses of the Batteries Regulation.
The most important provisions at a glance:
The term “producer” broadened by legal fiction, section 3 BattDG: The BattDG supplements, explains and broadens the definitions of the Batteries Regulation. Pursuant to section 3, no. 1 BattDG, the term “producer” goes beyond the definition provided in the Batteries Regulation to include any distributor that intentionally or negligently makes available batteries from producers that are not duly registered. The provision is intended to allow the market to regulate itself and prevent large quantities of batteries from unregistered producers from being placed on the market and so enforce the obligation to register.
Prohibition on placing certain batteries on the market: Section 4(1) BattDG incorporates the provisions of the current BattG and expands the prohibition on placing batteries from unregistered producers on the market laid down in the Batteries Regulation by requiring producers not merely to be registered, but to be duly registered. This means specifying both the battery category and brand in accordance with section 5(1) BattDG – unlike the Batteries Regulation, where only the category is required. Section 4(3), no. 2 BattDG, which also went beyond what the Batteries Regulation requires, was deleted at the recommendation of the Bundestag’s Committee on the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety: It would have prohibited providers of online platforms from enabling the offer and provision of batteries from producers not duly registered on their platforms. The Batteries Regulation only obliges providers of online platforms to obtain the registration number of the producers allowed to conclude contracts via the platform. It is not planned to further regulate the issue at national level in the BattDG before corresponding regulations are set out in EU legislation.
Producer obligations and organisation of take-back systems: A key change under section 7 BattDG is that producers are no longer required to run their own take-back systems for waste batteries. Unlike the BattG, the BattDG – in line with the Batteries Regulation – now allows the obligation to operate a take-back system to be fulfilled collectively through a producer responsibility organisation. The provision is intended to improve safety by ensuring proper disposal of the growing number of lithium batteries. Whereas the previous government’s draft had required producers to participate in a producer responsibility organisation, the BattDG continues to allow producers to fulfil these obligations individually. Those who do so are themselves regarded as producer responsibility organisations in the BattDG.
Obligations of producer responsibility organisations: Under section 11 BattDG, producer responsibility organisations must take back and recycle waste batteries from the entities collecting them. These obligations likewise apply to producers who are not part of a producer responsibility organisation.
Obligation of distributors to take back waste batteries: Section 14 BattDG specifies that distributors must take back waste portable batteries and waste batteries from light means of transport (LMT) free of charge. Section 18 BattDG contains a corresponding provision obligating distributors to take back waste starting, lighting and ignition (SLI) batteries, industrial batteries and electric vehicle batteries. Distributors must take back all battery categories they carry or have previously carried in their product range. Online distributors must provide suitable return options within a reasonable distance, for example by cooperating with bricks-and-mortar retailers or by offering return shipping options. The returned batteries must be returned to a producer responsibility organisation. Waste SLI, industrial and electric vehicle batteries can alternatively be returned to a designated waste management operator. Section 24 BattDG specifies that distributors must inform their customers about the return option by means of written notices or picture boards. Online distributors must provide written and pictorial notices and make the information easy to find on their websites.
- Obligation of public waste disposal entities to accept waste batteries: Section 15 BattDG expands the obligation of public waste disposal entities to accept waste batteries. Public waste disposal entities must accept all waste portable batteries and waste LMT batteries from private households free of charge and return them to a producer responsibility organisation. Section 13 BattG previously only required them to accept waste portable batteries. In line with the recommendation of the Committee on the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the obligation to accept waste LMT batteries does not apply until 1 January 2026 so that municipal collection points can be equipped with special containers.
- Collection targets for waste portable batteries: According to section 13(1) BattDG, producer responsibility organisations are required to collect 50% of waste portable batteries through their own take-back and collection systems. This provision deviates from Article 59(3), letter (a) Batteries Regulation, which stipulates a collection rate of only 45%. This rate will however increase to 63% by 31 December 2027, eliminating any differences between EU and German legislation.
- Sections 35 and 36 BattDG, which were added at the recommendation of the Committee on the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, concern the establishment of a Waste Battery Commission. The Waste Battery Commission will advise the competent authority on issues such as improving collection or classifying batteries. This is designed to give producers, producer responsibility organisations, the waste management industry, local authorities, and environmental and consumer protection organisations – each of which will be represented on the Waste Battery Commission – a greater say on key decisions that the competent authorities make.
Conclusion and outlook
The BattDG not only fulfils the regulatory requirements set out in the Batteries Regulation, but also uses the leeway granted to include more ambitious provisions in some respects. But the BattDG is much more cautious than the previous government’s draft as regards participation in producer responsibility organisations; this will remain voluntary for the producers concerned.
The safety risks posed by the improper disposal of lithium batteries were a major point of contention during the legislative process. The Bundesrat had argued in a statement on the Federal Government’s draft that additional options to promote proper disposal should be explored, in particular a deposit system. The Federal Government rejected the Bundesrat’s proposed amendments and referred to the draft Second Act amending the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (Zweites Gesetz zur Änderung des Elektro- und Elektronikgerätegesetzes), which aims to introduce safety precautions at municipal recycling centres. Nevertheless, when approving the new Act, the Bundestag also passed a resolution on the risks associated with inappropriate disposal, calling on the Federal Government to review the introduction of a deposit system for lithium batteries. The review must be completed within one year, and in particular incorporate findings from Denmark’s system and take into account discussions at European level. A motion for a resolution by the parliamentary group of Die Grünen calling for the Federal Government to introduce a deposit system without delay was rejected, however. The Bundesrat passed a resolution reiterating its disappointment that a deposit solution had not been considered as part of the legislative process, but welcoming the call for such a review.
The bill for the new Act had received a mixed reception from industry and public administration: At a public hearing of the Environment Committee on 1 September 2025, some stakeholders supported expanding the take-back and acceptance obligations for producers and public waste disposal entities, while others were more concerned with the safety risks of improperly disposing of lithium-ion batteries and favoured introducing a deposit system. Some stakeholders even argued that there was no need for a separate BattDG, and that the BattDG would create more administrative burden and expense than the Batteries Regulation actually required.
The Battery Law EU Adaptation Act was promulgated on 6 October 2025 and largely entered into force on 7 October 2025. The debate over a deposit system seems unlikely to die down anytime soon, so it remains to be seen what conclusions the Federal Government will reach in its review of the available options.
Forward
