Governments voted on a proposal to revise and merge the outdated End-of-Life Vehicles Directive and the 3R Type-Approval Directive into a single Regulation on Circularity Requirements on Vehicle Design and on Management of End-of-Life Vehicles.
The proposal aims to strengthen the EU single market while improving the circularity of the automotive sector and reducing the environmental impacts associated with the design, production, use, and end-of-life treatment of vehicles.
The extended scope of the regulation to cover more vehicles, and the inclusion of specific measures such as a Circularity Vehicle Passport (CVP), an EU-wide Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system to hold manufacturers accountable, and new requirements on the reuse of parts, components’ recycled content, better collection and improved treatment at the end of a vehicle’s life, were intended to steer the automotive sector towards decarbonisation and circularity.
However, while the Council made some cosmetic improvements, it failed to remedy several missed opportunities in the Commissions initial proposal, and watered-down key provisions, despite the calls by environmental organisations, consumer groups and industry alike.
Notably, the Council’s position:
- fails to address the unsustainable material use and footprint of the sector by decreasing the number of cars, and reversing the trend to ever bigger vehicles;
- still focuses on recycling while ignoring the preferable strategies of durability, reuse, and repair, which aim to extend the lifespan of cars – particularly important after the exclusion of vehicles under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR);
- insufficiently implements the Polluter Pays Principle, neglecting the upper levels of the waste hierarchy and creating an unfair double regime for non-EU countries receiving used vehicles from the EU.
