Regulation on circularity requirements for vehicle design and end-of life vehicle (ELV) management

Key points

The EESC:

• welcomes the European Commission's proposal for a vehicle regulation on sustainability and circularity, and calls for more ambition in circular vehicle design legislation;
• supports the 25% recycled content requirement for vehicle plastic and suggests similar measures for other materials lacking environmental harnessing;
• endorses vehicle design rules for repairability and calls for safeguards on access to parts, especially electric vehicle batteries;
• backs information and labelling improvements by manufacturers and supports fair representation of treatment facilities in Extended Producer Responsibility organizations;
• welcomes measures for vehicle traceability. It supports requiring a certificate of destruction from treatment facilities for vehicle deregistration;
• supports obligations on Member States to promote the market for reusing end-of-life vehicle parts and recommends the introduction of strict regulations;
• suggests reassessing dismantling obligations considering economic and environmental factors;
• stresses oversight of rules against illegal vehicle treatment. It strongly supports export rules to distinguish between used and end-of-life vehicles.