The draft regulation revises and merges the outdated End-of-Life Vehicles Directive and the 3R Type-Approval Directive into a single Regulation on Circularity Requirements on Vehicle Design and on Management of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.
After the Council already failed to remedy several missed opportunities in the Commissions initial proposal from July 2023, the expected agreement in the two responsible committees falls even further behind, weakening key provisions, introducing ambiguities and thereby dismantling what was meant to steer the automotive industry on a circular path – and this despite numerous calls by environmental organisations, consumer groups and industry alike (see list of joint statement below).
Notably, the Parliament:
- overlooks the sector’s unsustainable material consumption and environmental footprint by failing to reduce car numbers and halt the shift toward increasingly larger vehicles;
- continues to prioritise recycling at the expense of more effective measures like durability, reuse, and repair – crucial now that vehicles are excluded from the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR);
- falls short in applying the Polluter Pays Principle, disregarding higher tiers of the waste hierarchy and enabling an unjust double standard for non-EU countries importing used EU vehicles
Fynn Hauschke, Senior Policy Officer Circular Economy and Waste, European Environmental Bureau (EEB), said:
“Co-legislators continue to sidestep the elephant in the room: the relentless growth in car size and numbers is fuelling the automotive sector’s material consumption and environmental impact. Unless this is addressed – and carmakers are required to design vehicles that are durable and repairable from the outset – the regulation will fall short of steering the sector on a more sustainable path.”
Additional information:
EEB feedback to the European Commission: “Opportunities and roadblocks in the proposal for a new EU regulation on vehicle design and end of life” (2023)
Joint statement by environmental organisations, the insurance sector, consumer organisations, the automotive aftermarket, and the repair community concerning repair and repair-related design aspects (2025)
Joint statement by glass producers, non-ferrous metal industry, and environmental organisations regarding measures to support the reuse of components and high-quality recycling of materials from end-of-life vehicles (2025)
Joint statement by environmental organisations, think tanks, and recycling industry to boost the use of recycled steel in the automotive sector (2025)
Joint statement by waste management and recycling industries, automotive suppliers, and environmental organisations in support of ambitious recycled content targets for plastics (2024)
