Starting 18 August 2025, new rules according to the Regulation concerning Batteries and Waste Batteries (Chapter VIII – Management of Waste Batteries) will come into effect which will have a major impact on battery producers, importers and distributors. The aim of the regulation is to increase the collection, recycling and responsible management of batteries at the end of their useful life.

Key obligations of producers:

• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
  Each entity that makes available a battery on the market in the Slovak Republic for the first time (including repurposed or re-used batteries) is considered a producer and is subject to EPR obligations.
• Registration in the National Register of Battery Producers
  Producers must register and provide identification data, the types of battery and the method of fulfilling obligations.

Producers have extended producer responsibility for batteries that they make available on the market for the first time within the territory of a Member State. According to the new rules, an economic operator who makes available on the market within a Member State for the first time a battery which is the result of preparation for re-use, preparation for repurposing, repurposing or remanufacturing is also considered a producer and has obligations arising from extended producer responsibility.

Each producer can fulfil its obligations individually or collectively through the producer responsibility organisation (ASEKOL SK). This responsibility includes financing and organising the collection and treatment of waste batteries, reporting to the competent authorities, implementing information campaigns and providing information on the end of the battery’s life cycle.

According to the new rules, when registering in the register of battery producers, which is maintained by the Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic, the producer is, in addition to identification data, obliged to provide:

• categories of batteries that the producer wants to place on the market, including their chemical composition
• the brand names of batteries that will be placed on the market
  
  
• Collection targets
  • Portable batteries: 63% by 2027, 73% by 2030.
  • Batteries for light means of transport: 51% by 2028, 61% by 2031.
    Collection must be free of charge and provided through an accessible network of collection points.

The regulation imposes on producers the obligation to ensure the fulfilment of new collection targets for portable batteries and LMT batteries (batteries for light means of transport – electric bicycles, electric scooters, etc.)

Producers are obliged to ensure, individually or through waste management operators, the collection of all portable batteries, regardless of their nature, voltage, brand or origin, and to do so through a network of collection points in cooperation with distributors, municipalities, processing facilities or voluntary collection points. Collection must be free of charge for the end-user and without the condition of purchasing a new battery.

The regulation also sets new information obligations for producers in relation to the end-user – this concerns information on waste prevention, waste management, labelling, recycling or the importance of re-use.

• Recycling obligations
  Minimum recycling targets for key metals (cobalt, lithium, nickel, copper, lead) and mandatory recycled content shares in new batteries from 2028 are stipulated.

The regulation also sets requirements for operators of recycling facilities, who must ensure that recycling reaches the specified recycling efficiency and targets for recovery of materials.

• Financial guarantees
  Producers or, where applicable, waste management operators must provide a financial guarantee to cover the costs related to waste management operations.

A producer (whether individually or through a waste management operator) is obliged to provide a financial guarantee to cover the costs related to waste management or failure to fulfil the waste management obligations, including in the event of permanent cessation of their operations or insolvency. Member States may lay down additional conditions for this guarantee. The costs linked with waste management must be displayed separately when a new battery is sold.

• Sanctions
  EU Member States must lay down rules on penalties for infringements of the Regulation by 18 August 2025 that are effective, proportionate and dissuasive.