As of: February 6, 2024, 4:35 p.m
By: Anni Gebhard
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Press
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When buying batteries and accumulators, there will be something new for consumers from February 18th: New EU regulations ensure that some products can no longer be sold.
What changes.
The year 2024 already has some changes in store for consumers: first the innovation in the deposit system for dairy products, now a new EU regulation for batteries and accumulators.
The regulation is the Battery Ordinance, which came into force on August 17, 2023.
From February 18th, the concrete effects of the EU decision on consumers will begin and some batteries will no longer be allowed to be sold.
New EU regulation: From February 18th, all stores must accept batteries
What will change as a result of the EU law from February: “Zeit Online” describes the EU Parliament’s new battery regulation as “probably one of the most consumer-friendly of all regulations”.
A QR code with information about the battery or cell phones with batteries that anyone can remove themselves are just two of the many innovations brought about by the EU law.
The aim should be to protect the environment from even more electronic waste.
From February 18th, consumers are likely to feel the first change: either when they go shopping or when ordering online.
As of February 18th, all sellers and manufacturers of batteries must ensure the return of these items.
Supermarkets and discounters such as Kaufland and Lidl have had specific collection containers for this purpose since 2022 at the latest.
More retail stores will be required to set up collection containers in the future.
New EU law requires online retailers to accept used batteries
The same rule also applies to online trading.
All online retailers that sell batteries and accumulators must also take them back.
This is supposed to work by customers sending their old batteries by post to the dealer free of charge.
Online providers must be able to guarantee this from February 18th.
It remains to be clarified whether the postage costs are actually free for the consumer, but according to information from “express.de”, some online providers have already promised to cover the costs.
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Battery regulation: These batteries and accumulators will no longer be available in the future
From August 18th, further additional provisions of the EU regulation will come into effect.
These include, among other things, the mandatory labeling of batteries with a product, serial or batch number as well as the full contact details of the manufacturer or importer.
In addition, the CE seal is mandatory.
Anyone who no longer meets these requirements will no longer be allowed to sell their goods in the EU.
This could particularly affect cheaply produced batteries and batteries from the Far East.