A Bill to Foster the Used Battery Industry and Support Supply Chain Stabilization
Electric Vehicle Battery Businesses Required to Use a Certain Percentage of Recycled Materials
Inside the factory of Sungil Hightech, a company specializing in used battery recycling. Provided by Sungil Hightech
A bill has been proposed to systematically foster the used battery industry. According to this bill, the government will establish an integrated lifecycle management system for electric vehicle batteries, and manufacturers of electric vehicle batteries must use a certain percentage of recycled materials.
On the 13th, Assemblyman Song Jaebong (The Democratic Party, Cheongju Cheongwon, Chungbuk) announced that he had taken the lead in proposing the "Act on the Promotion of the Used Battery Industry and Support for Supply Chain Stabilization."
As the use of electric vehicles increases, the need for systematic management of used batteries, such as remanufacturing, reuse, and recycling, has been raised. However, until now, there has been a lack of systems in Korea to create added value and utilize used batteries. Additionally, due to the absence of a definition for used batteries, they have sometimes been treated as waste.
Currently, used batteries in Korea are subject to multiple legal regulations such as the Act on Resource Circulation of Electrical and Electronic Products and Automobiles and the Automobile Management Act, making it difficult to industrialize and activate the sector.
Assemblyman Song explained, "I received opinions that institutional measures are needed to systematically foster the used battery industry, contribute to carbon neutrality and a circular economy through the utilization of used batteries, and secure the competitiveness of the domestic battery industry by ensuring supply chain stability. Based on this, I took the lead in proposing the Act on the Promotion of the Used Battery Industry and Support for Supply Chain Stabilization."
The bill proposed by Assemblyman Song stipulates that the state shall establish and implement related policies to stabilize the supply chain and promote the utilization of electric vehicle batteries. It also requires the registration of acquisition businesses, sales businesses, and utilization businesses to ensure the safe handling and transparent transactions of used batteries.
The Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy is also tasked with designating an entity to install and operate a public transaction system that supports the trading, acquisition, and disposal of used batteries. The bill introduces pre-use inspections of used batteries, safety inspections of remanufactured and reused products, and post-inspections, and establishes related systems accordingly.
The bill mandates that the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the Minister of Environment jointly establish and operate an integrated lifecycle management system for electric vehicle batteries to systematically manage information on the entire lifecycle and condition of electric vehicle batteries.
Additionally, it includes provisions requiring businesses that manufacture or import electric vehicle batteries to use or import a certain percentage or more of recycled materials.
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