This article is the first in a series of blog posts with the joint title “What’s changing in 2025“, in which the experts from Produktkanzlei team summarize the relevant topics from their respective areas of expertise.
This article first presents the changes in product-related environmental law that have already been adopted and are still in the legislative process (see A.). In a second part, the foreseeable developments on due diligence obligations in the supply chain are summarized (see B.).
A. Product-related environmental law
As in the previous year, the ongoing implementation of the EU Battery Regulation will also be of central importance in the coming year (see I.). In addition, the year 2025 will have to be dominated across all sectors by preparations for the recently finalized EU Packaging Regulation (see II.). At national level, the focus in many sectors will initially remain on the Single-Use Plastics Fund Act (see III.). After all, many issues will continue to develop and become more concrete in the coming months (see IV.).
I. EU Battery Regulation
Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (BattReg) has been in force since 18.02.2024. The first compliance deadline in this context was 18.08.2024, since when extensive new formal requirements apply. This generally includes the requirement for a conformity assessment (incl. EU declaration of conformity and CE marking), mandatory manufacturer, importer and identification markings and the obligation to include operating and safety instructions. In addition, the new substance restriction for lead in portable batteries (Art. 6 in conjunction with Annex I No. 3 BattReg), performance and durability requirements for rechargeable industrial batteries, LMT batteries and electric vehicle batteries (Art. 10 in conjunction with Annex IV BattReg), safety of stationary battery energy storage systems (Art. 12 in conjunction with Annex V BattReg) and information on the state of health and expected lifetime of stationary battery energy storage systems, LMT batteries and electric vehicle batteries (Art. 14 in conjunction with Annex VII BattVReg) apply to specific battery categories.
At first glance, the list of additional new requirements for 2025 is much shorter, but several core areas of the BattReg are affected, meaning that the implementation and adaptation effort will remain high. The following aspects should be mentioned for 2025:
- Carbon footprint for electric vehicle batteries (Art. 7 BattVO)
According to Art. 7 para. 1 subpara. 2 lit. a) in conjunction with Annex II BattReg, it should actually be mandatory from 18.02.2025 for electric vehicle batteries to prepare a carbon footprint declaration and enclose it in writing with each battery. However, this will require further clarification from the EU Commission regarding the method by which the carbon footprint is calculated and verified and the format of the relevant declaration. Both should have been published by the EU Commission by 18.02.2024, but are still at the draft stage (draft regarding calculation and draft regarding declaration). As a result, a provision now applies to postpone the date of application, according to which this is only 12 months after the publication of the aforementioned legal acts instead of the originally planned 18.02.2025. This means that the date of application will be postponed until at least early to mid-2026. If the first delegated acts and implementing acts cannot be completed and published by the EU Commission on time, further delays are also to be expected for all other comparable constellations. This will initially affect other battery categories in particular within the scope of Art. 7 BattReg.
- Due diligence obligations in the supply chain (Art. 47 ff. BattReg)
According to Art. 48 para. 1 BattReg, economic operators who place batteries on the market or put them into service must comply with the due diligence obligations laid down in Art. 48 para. 2 and 3, 49, 50 and 52 BattReg and, to this end, must establish and implement strategies to comply with the due diligence obligations applicable to batteries. According to Art. 51 BattReg, the fulfillment of obligations must be verified by a notified body and approved if the findings are positive. However, such a notified body has not yet been established in Germany, meaning that the verification procedure to be applied has not yet been specified. An initial specification of the due diligence obligations can be expected in the guidelines to be published by the EU Commission by 18.02.2025, although it is questionable whether these will actually be published in time. Against this background, the preparation of measures to fulfill the due diligence obligations can initially only be based on the vague legal wording and general principles, for example also according to the German Supply Chain Act.
- Extended producer responsibility (Art. 54 ff. BattReg)
The provisions on extended producer responsibility according to Art. 54 ff. BattReg also apply from 18.08.2025 and develop the existing regime under Directive 2006/66/EC, which is currently implemented in Germany in the BattG. The basic structures of producer registration and the take-back obligations of producers and distributors will be retained in principle but will be further developed and tightened in numerous aspects. However, the adoption of the detailed requirements is the responsibility of the individual Member States, which must establish these in national legislation. Although Germany currently has a draft law to adapt its battery law to Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (Batterierecht-EU-Anpassungsgesetz – Batt-EU-AnpG), it is more than questionable whether this will be finally passed before the new elections in February. This is currently associated with enormous legal uncertainty for affected economic operators and it can therefore only be recommended that national developments in all relevant Member States be closely monitored.
In addition to the newly added obligations, it is to be expected that the enforcement of the already applicable requirements will pick up speed, so that the implementation measures taken must now prove themselves in practice for the first time. It is to be hoped that the responsible authorities will proceed with a sense of proportion and thus contribute to the practical application of the BattReg.
II. EU Packaging Regulation
After a legislative process lasting over two years, the Council finally adopted the Regulation on packaging and packaging waste (PPWR) on 16.12.2024. This means that it only needs to be published in the Official Journal of the EU before it applies 18 months after its entry into force. Depending on the exact date of publication, the start of application is expected to be mid-2026, meaning that there will be no legal obligations in 2025. National packaging legislation must also be adapted to the new requirements by mid-2026 at the latest.
However, this should not obscure the fact that the Packaging Regulation, like the existing BattReg, will bring extensive changes. Packaging law is being developed from a waste regime into a life cycle regulation with comprehensive sustainability requirements. This will affect the entire packaging industry, all economic players who package products and sell packaged products. For a complete and timely implementation of all requirements, it is essential that all suppliers of packaging materials and packaging and all packaging economic operators start promptly to jointly assign the respective roles under the Packaging Regulation and initiate the necessary implementation steps.
Unfortunately, the legal definition of manufacturer in Art. 3 No. 14 PPWR does not provide clarity here. It states that “any natural or legal person who manufactures packaging or a packaged product” is to be regarded as a manufacturer, without providing any further criteria or conditions as to which of the two alternatively named actors is to be regarded as the responsible manufacturer and when. This uncertainty is exacerbated by the fact that Art. 3 No. 16 PPWR defines “any natural or legal person who supplies packaging or packaging material to a manufacturer” as a supplier. This leaves it completely unclear whether the supplier of finished packaging, for example a prefabricated folding carton, or only the person who fills it with their goods is to be regarded as a manufacturer within the meaning of Art. 3 No. 14 PPWR. Against this backdrop, it is to be hoped that the EU Commission will quickly publish corresponding interpretative notes in order to enable the clarification of the roles in a legally secure manner.
In terms of timing, the provisions of the Packaging Regulation will not all apply directly from mid-2026, but must be complied with in stages. Central to this are a completely new conformity assessment obligation immediately from 2026 (Art. 35 ff. PPWR, incl. EU Declaration of Conformity, but without CE marking), as well as a manufacturer, importer and identification marking obligation (Art. 15 para. 5, 6 and Art. 18 para. 3 PPWR).
The majority of the new, central sustainability obligations, such as
- recyclability (Art. 6 PPWR),
- the minimum recyclate content in plastic packaging (Art. 7 PPWR),
- the obligation to minimize packaging (Art. 10 PPWR),
- the ban on excessive packaging (Art. 24 PPWR),
- the restriction of certain packaging formats (Art. 25 PPWR) and
- the entire reusability requirements (Art. 11 and Art. 26 ff. PPWR),
will, however, only apply from 01.01.2030. In between, probably from the beginning of 2028, new, EU-wide uniform packaging labeling regulations will become mandatory, which should then finally put an end to the national patchwork.
For further details, see our blog post “EU Packaging Regulation nears final adoption”.
III Single-use Plastics Fund Act
At national level, the Single-use Plastics Fund Act (Einwegkunststofffondsgesetz – EWKFondsG) has caused quite a stir in the affected sectors in recent weeks and months. This has been in force since 01.01.2024 and, in particular, requires manufacturers of single-use plastic products (food containers, packets and wrappers with food content, beverage containers/bottles/cups, lightweight plastic carrier bags, wet wipes, balloons and tobacco filters) to register on the DIVID platform of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA). As of 01.01.2025, the further provisions on annual quantity reporting (to be submitted by 15.05. of each year with regard to the previous year) and the related duty to pay the levy have now also come into force.
However, the Federal Environment Agency has made some very controversial decisions in recent months that have called into question or even turned upside down the allocation of roles previously assumed in the market. The Federal Environment Agency’s general ruling on an unfilled yoghurt pot (available HERE) is central to this. In this ruling, the Federal Environment Agency decided that an unfilled yoghurt pot is also to be regarded as a food container covered by the law and that the producer of the same is therefore a producer within the meaning of the law. Thus, according to the Federal Environment Agency’s interpretation, the obligation to register, report quantities and pay duties does not apply to the person who fills the pot with yoghurt, but takes effect one step earlier. Although an appeal has been lodged against this far-reaching classification, it is unlikely that a decision will be made in the near future. In combination with the considerable backlog in processing requests for classification and other appeals against classification decisions, there is considerable uncertainty in the market. However, this does not mean that the obligations will be postponed or otherwise suspended, so that every market actor should choose and implement a reasonable implementation strategy, if possible in cooperation with suppliers and business customers.
IV. Overview of further developments
In addition to the BattReg and the PPWR, further comprehensive legislative projects in the area of product-related environmental law will also be on the EU agenda in 2025. The following topics should be highlighted here:
- The draft revision of the Waste Framework Directive published in mid-2023 has been in trilogue negotiations since October 2024. In particular, the current draft also aims to introduce a regime for extended producer responsibility for textiles and footwear. This would then lead to national registration and take-back obligations. In terms of timing, the legislative process is expected to be completed in 2025 and the new obligations may apply from 2027. This would then be the second step towards a genuine circular economy, after all Member States have actually already had to introduce separate collection of textile waste since 01.01.2025 (cf. Art. 11 para. 1 subpara. 2 Directive 2008/98/EC, implemented in Germany in Sec. 20 para. 2 sentence 1 No. 6 and Sentence 2 KrWG).
- A major uncertainty factor in the electronics industry continues to be the very slow and non-transparent decision on renewal applications for exemption from ubstance restrictions under the RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU. As numerous assessments on related exemptions are now available, decisions on essential exemptions for lead and cadmium can probably be expected in 2025. According to a current draft, the decision-making process for exemptions under RoHS will in future be more time-bound, more transparent and involve the European Chemicals Agency.
At national level, the start of 2025 is characterized by the current political situation in Germany, in which the current governing parties no longer have a majority in the (dissolved) Bundestag and new elections are due in February. In light of this, it seems almost impossible that legislative projects (still) initiated by the current government in the area of product-related environmental law will be completed. Instead, these will fall victim to the principle of discontinuity. This applies in particular to the draft of a second law to amend the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act, with which the general take-back and information obligations are to be extended and new obligations introduced in relation to disposable e-cigarettes. Other projects, such as the further development of the national packaging law, will also not be finalized.
B. Due diligence obligations in the supply chain
The increasingly dense network of regulations on human rights and environmental requirements in the supply chain is now leading to a labyrinth of obligations, rights, exceptions and counter-exceptions that is almost impossible to understand, despite the well-meaning intentions. Directive (EU) 2024/1760 on corporate sustainability due diligence (CSDD), Directive (EU) 2022/2464 on sustainability reporting (CSRD), Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on deforestation-free supply chains (EUDR), Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 on the prohibition of products made using forced labor (FLR) and the due diligence obligations in the BattReg have created a jungle that is gradually obscuring the essentials instead of shedding light on the darkness. This is even more true against the background that the individual regulatory regimes are not coordinated with each other, issues are addressed several times and individual aspects cannot be implemented in practice despite their noble intentions.
In terms of content, it is worth mentioning at this point that Regulation (EU) 2024/3234 postponed the application of the EUDR by one year to 30.12.2025 shortly before its actual planned date of application on 30.12.2024. However, this should not be taken as an opportunity to (temporarily) halt implementation efforts, as these still require complex and far-reaching measures with potentially far-reaching interventions throughout the supply chain. Although the FLR will come into force on 14.12.2027, this Regulation requires measures to ensure that the entire supply chain is free of any forced labor. For more complex supply chains, this will certainly require a lead time of several years.
With regard to the national perspective, there will certainly be adjustments to the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz – LkSG) after the new elections and the formation of a new government. This is not only in order to comply with the obligation to implement the CSDDD by 26.07.2026 (further details can be found in our blog post “EU Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) – What will change in Germany?”), but also in order to implement new findings from the implementation and political objectives. Against this background, it is not possible to make reliable forecasts at this point in time. What can be considered almost certain, assuming the LkSG remains in force, is that the reporting obligation under the LkSG will be linked to the reporting obligation under the CSRD. Although the draft law on the implementation of Directive (EU) 2022/2464 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 amending Regulation (EU) No. 537/2014 and Directives 2004/109/EC, 2006/43/EC and 2013/34/EU with regard to sustainability reporting by companies will probably not be finally adopted in the current legislative period, there seems to be a consensus across party lines that at least this alignment is absolutely necessary.
Outlook
As already indicated on several occasions, national developments in product-related environmental law and the protection of human rights and environmental concerns in supply chains will depend crucially on the outcome of the new elections in February 2025. The course that has already been set could be changed spontaneously, meaning that companies may also have to take new directions. Where this leads to a reduction in unnecessary requirements and formality, such a development would certainly be welcome. However, where far-reaching cuts are to be announced and possibly implemented for the sake of a simple message, this should be done with caution with regard to legal certainty, the coherence of legal regulations and the weighing up of all relevant protected interests.
Either way, all economic players will face a turbulent year in 2025, in which a further increase in regulatory density can be expected from the EU in addition to national developments. However, it must also be assumed that statutory guidelines and tertiary legislation will only be published with massive delays, which will result in further legal uncertainty. In any case, the focus in 2025 must be more than ever on close monitoring of new developments and a sound understanding of upcoming issues in order to derive the right operational and strategic measures.
Do you have any questions about this news, or would you like to discuss it with the author? Please contact: Michael Öttinger
