battery policy

The Battery Ordinance (BattV) is an EU directive that was passed by the European Parliament and implemented as a legal requirement. The Battery Ordinance regulates the treatment, handling, use and disposal of batteries.

Since batteries contain environmentally harmful electrolytes, special attention is paid to disposal and recycling. Thus, §7 describes the obligation of the end user to return used batteries to a distributor or to collection points established for this purpose by the public waste management authorities.

The Battery Ordinance deals with batteries and accumulators and devices with permanently installed batteries. The regulation concerns the trade and the final consumers equally and regulates the obligations with the taking back and utilization, the marking and reference obligation regarding the contained pollutants and the battery disposal and the use prohibition of certain batteries. Thus, the Battery Directive restricts the distribution of batteries with a high mercury or cadmium content.

The first version of the Battery Directive dates from 1998, the current version from 2002.