Battery Regulation

(38) In order to ensure that portable batteries that were incorporated into appliances are subject to separate collection, treatment and high quality recycling once those appliances become waste, provisions to ensure the removability and replaceability of batteries in such appliances are necessary. Consumer safety should be ensured, in line with Union law and in particular Union safety standards, during the removal of portable batteries from or the replacement of portable batteries in an appliance. A portable battery should be considered to be removable by the end-user when it can be removed with the use of commercially available tools and without requiring the use of specialised tools, unless they are provided free of charge, or proprietary tools, thermal energy or solvents to disassemble it. Commercially available tools are considered to be tools available on the market to all end-users without the need for them to provide evidence of any proprietary rights and that can be used with no restriction, except health and safety-related restrictions. The general provisions of this Regulation should apply without prejudice to the safety and maintenance requirements for professional medical imaging and radiotherapy devices as defined in Medical Devices Regulation (MDR) of the European Parliament and of the Council and for in vitro diagnostic medical devices as defined in In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR) of the European Parliament and of the Council , and could be complemented with requirements laid down for particular products powered by batteries under implementing measures under Directive 2009/125/EC. Where other Union law lays down more specific requirements, for safety reasons, regarding the removal of batteries from products, such as toys, those specific rules should apply.