EU Adopts New Circularity Requirements for Vehicles

The European Council announced the adoption by EU Member States of a new regulation introducing circularity requirements for vehicles across their lifecycle, including recycled content in design, making vehicles easier to dismantle, repair, reuse and recycle, and making carmakers responsible for treatment of end-of-life vehicles.

The adoption by the Council marks the last major step in the legislative procedure for the new regulation, following its adoption earlier this month by lawmakers in the European Parliament.

The new regulation was initially proposed by the European Commission in 2023 as part of the European Green Deal and Circular Economy Action Plan, aimed at replacing 2 existing directives with a single set of requirements designed to ensure that new vehicles are designed in a way that facilitates recycling and re-use of spare parts when they reach the end of their life.

Among the Commission’s proposals were requirements for new vehicles to contain at least 25% of plastic recycled from post-consumer plastic waste, with 25% of such material coming from recycled end-of-life vehicles within 6 years after the regulation entered into force. These requirements were scaled back in the finalized package agreed to by the Council and Parliament, with the final regulation requiring 15% recycled plastic after 6 years, scaling up to 25% after 10 years, and with 20% of the recycled plastic required to come from end-of-life vehicles.

Additionally, the regulation requires the Commission to introduce future targets for other materials such as recycled steel, aluminum, magnesium, and critical raw materials, based on a feasibility study finalized a year after its entry into force.

The new regulation expands extended producer responsibility for automakers, making producers financially responsible for the entire lifecycle of their vehicles, including when they become waste. The extended producer responsibility covers promoting design for circularity and ensuring the free take-back – enabling the last owner of a vehicle to hand it over for end-of-life treatment without having to pay a disposal fee – and proper treatment of all end-of-life vehicles.

The regulation also bans the export of used vehicles that are no longer roadworthy, and requires that vehicles be treated by an authorized treatment facility once it meets the criteria of an end-of-life vehicle, and cannot be legally exported or resold as a used vehicle.

The regulation will start applying 2 years after its entry into force, and will fully apply to passenger cars and light commercial vans, while heavy-duty trucks, motorcycles and special purpose vehicles will be subject to a more limited set of requirements.