Automotive: more recycled plastic and digital vehicle passports

Digital passport, increasing percentages of recycled plastic and an extended producer responsibility scheme for manufacturers . These are some of the provisions of the Circularity Regulation on the design of new vehicles and the management of end-of-life vehicles, approved on 18 June 2026 by the European Parliament. Following the Parliament’s approval, the regulation is now awaiting formal adoption by the Council before it enters into force and is applied 24 months later.

Within six years of the new regulations coming into force, vehicles must be manufactured in such a way that at least 15 per cent of the plastic used is recycled, rising to 25 per cent within ten years. Of this recycled plastic, at least 20 per cent must come from end-of-life vehicles or used parts. For businesses, but not for private individuals, when selling a vehicle, it will be necessary to prove that the vehicle is not end-of-life or to present a valid MOT certificate. For private individuals, it will be sufficient to present just one of these two documents if the vehicle has been declared a total economic loss or if the sale takes place exclusively via an online platform.

Five years after the Regulation enters into force, the export of vehicles declared unfit for use will be prohibited in order to prevent illegal dismantling and tackle the problem of ‘missing vehicles’. After three years, however, the extended producer responsibility scheme will come into force, requiring manufacturers to cover the costs of collecting and treating end-of-life vehicles anywhere in the Union.

Six years after the regulation comes into force, every vehicle placed on the market must be equipped with a digital circularity passport : standardised, interoperable and, where possible, integrated with other environmental passports. The information to be included in the passport is also expected to include an official catalogue of spare parts. Three years after the regulation comes into force, EU Member States will be required to make available to the public, in aggregated form for each calendar year and in the format established by the Commission, a set of data based on information received from manufacturers, producer responsibility organisations and waste managers. These include: the number of registered vehicles; the number of vehicles placed on the market for the first time within the territory of the Member State; the number and weight of end-of-life vehicles collected and treated within the State, and the number of scrapping certificates issued.

The co-rapporteurs, Jens Gieseke (Committee on the Environment) and Paulius Saudargas (Committee on the Internal Market), spoke of “important steps to support the automotive sector’s transition towards a circular economy”. At the same time, they explain, “to avoid placing an excessive burden on the sector, the new rules will introduce realistic targets, reduce administrative burdens and ensure fairer competition”.