New ELV regulation agreed by EU negotiators

Europe’s new regulations for the design, production and end-of-life treatment of vehicles have been provisionally agreed in Brussels.

However, environmental groups say measures agreed during negotiations for the End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) Regulation fall short of the European Commission’s original vision.

The regulation introduces a Circularity Vehicle Passport, an EU-wide extended producer responsibility system, minimum recycled content requirements and stronger rules on parts reuse and vehicle collection and treatment. It also requires vehicle manufacturers to provide clear and detailed instructions for removing and replacing parts during use and at end-of-life.

Valuable resources

Jessika Roswall, commissioner for environment, water resilience and a competitive circular economy, said: ‘When access to raw materials is under increasing global strain, making better use of the valuable resources embedded in our old cars is good for our environment, competitiveness and resilience.’

‘This regulation is the right instrument to deliver on our circular economy ambitions, ensuring that the precious materials inside every vehicle are recovered at the end of their life and kept within our economy.’ 

Stéphane Séjourné, vp for prosperity and industrial strategy, added: ‘Boosting recycling and circularity is a key component of our plan to support the industrial competitiveness of the plastics industry. The adopted measures today will help to create a concrete business case for the recycling supply chain across Europe.’

‘Caved in‘

The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and the Environmental Action Germany (DUH) agree that, in principle, the measures could help drive genuine decarbonisation and circularity. But they say crucial gaps include: 

• no action to reduce the number and size of vehicles 
• prioritisation of recycling over durability, reuse, and repair 
• insufficient measures to hold producers accountable for used vehicles exported from Europe

EEB and DUH maintain that policy makers ‘caved into’ pressure from the automotive industry. ‘Lawmakers slashed recycled plastic content targets from 25% to 15% six years after entry into force, postponing the 25% requirement until a decade after the regulation takes effect,’ they responded in a press release.

‘At the same time, mandatory treatment requirements were diluted, and key provisions, including safeguards against the export of old, non-roadworthy and polluting vehicles, were delayed.’ 

After the European Parliament and the Council formally adopt the new regulation, it will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the EU’s Official Journal.