The proposals in the EU Commission's omnibus package aim to relieve companies, especially SMEs, of bureaucratic burdens and simplify reporting obligations in order to increase the competitiveness of European companies.
In this context, the Commission published a draft for the Omnibus IV package on May 21, 2025, which concerns due diligence obligations in the area of sustainability for batteries.
According to Art. 47 et seq. of the Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, corresponding due diligence obligations apply to the distributor of a battery in relation to the supply chains for cobalt, natural graphite, lithium and nickel. In principle, these obligations should already apply from August 18, 2025.
However, the due diligence obligations of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 are not in line with the provisions of Directive (EU) 2024/1760 (CSDDD for Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive) in some respects. This is due to the fact that Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 is product-specific and Directive (EU) 2024/1760 is cross-sectoral. The Omnibus IV proposal will ensure consistency as far as possible by at least harmonizing the publication dates for guidelines under both pieces of legislation so that they can be developed hand in hand.
In addition, the due diligence policy of economic operators in the battery sector must, in principle, be reviewed by a notified body. However, so far only about half of the Member States have designated their notifying authority, which is responsible for the assessment, notification and monitoring of conformity assessment bodies. Accreditation of notified bodies has also failed, partly due to the lack of a standard for the accreditation of notified bodies for battery due diligence.
The main objective of the Omnibus IV proposal is to postpone the date of application of the due diligence obligations under Article 48(1) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 by two years, so that economic operators placing batteries on the market in the EU can better prepare themselves with the help of guidelines and eliminate difficulties in third-party verification. The proposal therefore does not change the content of the regulations, but merely postpones their date of application.
Would you like to read more about product and material compliance for batteries?
You can find more articles here:
→ Battery Regulation - Problems in practice with the classification of light lead batteries from 30.04.2024
→ Battery Regulation 2023/1542 - Implementation of important producer obligations as early as 18.08.2024 from 30.01.2024
Author's note
This article has been machine translated into English.
DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS
An omnibus package from the EU Commission is a proposed regulation that combines various pieces of EU legislation into a single package. The aim is to simplify certain legislation, reduce bureaucracy for companies and strengthen competitiveness.
SMEs: Small and medium-sized enterprises
