DLA Piper advises CCR Logistics Systems AG on the legislative process for the new German Battery Act
Under the brand name CCR REBAT, CCR Logistics Systems operates what is believed the largest take-back system for used portable batteries in Germany. It has actively participated in the discussions leading up to the adoption of the new Battery Act and a CCR Logistics Systems representative was heard by the Environment Committee of the German Bundestag. The main new provisions of the amended Battery Act concern the transition to a competitive system for the collection of used equipment batteries and clarifications regarding the calculation of the collection quotas that the collection systems have to meet annually.
DLA Piper had previously represented CCR Logistics Systems in a fundamental legal dispute regarding the calculation of collection quotas under the previous Battery Act before the Higher Administrative Court of Magdeburg, which was amicably concluded by a court settlement in September 2020. The subject of the lawsuit was a “guideline” published by the German Federal Environment Agency in December 2017, which, among other things, contained new specifications for the calculation of collection quotas. In August 2018, the Administrative Court of Halle had found the “guideline” to be unlawful due to a lawsuit filed by CCR Logistics Systems and decided that CCR Logistics Systems was not bound by the “guideline”. The core provision of the settlement now concluded before the Magdeburg Higher Administrative Court also provides also that the statements of the German Federal Environment Agency published in the “guideline” on the calculation of collection quotas have no legally binding effect on the operators of take-back systems for used equipment batteries. This means that legal certainty has now been created with regard to the calculation of collection quotas for the take-back systems, also for the time until the new Battery Act with its explicit clarifications on the calculation of collection quotas comes into force.
Used portable batteries are mainly small batteries, which are found in private households. The Battery Act regulates the product responsibility of manufacturers and importers. According to this law, companies that bring batteries onto the market in Germany should also bear the responsibility and the costs for proper disposal and recycling of them.
A DLA Piper team comprising Prof Dr Ludger Giesberts, Dr Michael Gayger (both Cologne) and Dr Marcus Ostermann (Hamburg, all Public Law) advised CCR Logistics Systems.
