Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether EU Regulation 2023/1542 on batteries and waste batteries will come into force in Northern Ireland before equivalent requirements are introduced in Great Britain; and what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications of businesses operating across the UK internal market.

No UK Internal Market assessment has been made.

Article 5(4), in conjunction with Article 13(3) of the Windsor Framework, provides that the EU law listed in Annex 2 to the Windsor Framework, including that law as amended or replaced, will apply to and in the UK in respect of Northern Ireland. Consequently, the EU Batteries Regulation has applied in Northern Ireland from 18 February 2024.

Working alongside the Devolved Governments, we are reviewing the UK's producer responsibility legislation for batteries. As part of this review, we are considering aligning with the requirements of the EU Batteries Regulation in Great Britain. My officials held a series of workshops with industry earlier this year to explore this further.