Guarantee on recycled parts, reuse and scrapping: the latest developments on end-of-life vehicles

End-of-life vehicles: a phased approach to the new requirements on the life cycle using the standard certificate template end-of-life and further information on the labelling of parts, components and materials. From today, 13 August, Regulation (EU) 2026/1738 is in force, but it does not take effect immediately. According to data from the European Commission, in the European Union more than 12 million vehicles a year become waste, and a further 3.5 million or so vanish into thin air: removed from the registers, lost amidst exports disguised as second-hand goods and uncontrolled scrapping. This drain is set to be stemmed precisely by the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2026/1738 of 8 July 2026. It will generally come into force on 1 September 2028; however, preparations must begin now because, if an end-of-life vehicle is to be kept in use, the ‘G13 – Circularity’ criterion becomes a type-approval requirement.

The Regulation repeals Directives 2000/53/EC (end-of-life vehicles) and 2005/64/EC (type-approval of vehicles and reusability, recyclability and recoverability) and addresses: circularity requirements for design and production (reusability, recyclability, recoverability and recycled content) verified during type-approval; information and labelling of parts, components and materials; extended producer responsibility (EPR) covering the collection and treatment of end-of-life vehicles; the export of used vehicles to non-EU countries and of end-of-life vehicles. Vehicles must be designed to facilitate: the dismantling and replacement of components; material recycling. By September 2029, manufacturers must draw up a circularity strategy listing the actions they intend to implement to comply with the ‘circular’ obligations imposed by the regulations. They must also declare the proportion of recycled content; provide information on the removal and replacement of parts; and use the nomenclature in Annex VII to label materials.

By 31 August 2029, each Member State shall establish the producers’ register. For facilities, requirements will apply regarding cleaning, the removal of parts prior to shredding, the trade in used or remanufactured spare parts, and a ban on landfill for non-inert waste (for example, rubber parts). The new obligations regarding collection, reclamation and the prior removal of components will apply from 1 September 2028 passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (categories M1 and N1). From 1 September 2031, these requirements will be extended to heavy goods vehicles and trailers (categories M2, M3, N2, N3, O) and two- and three-wheeled vehicles, as well as quadricycles (L). From 1 September 2032, requirements regarding recyclability, reusability and recoverability of vehicles will come into force: 85 per cent of the vehicle’s mass must be reusable or recyclable, and at least 95 per cent must be reusable or recoverable.

The Ministerial Decree of 3 May 2007, implementing Directive 2005/64/EC, shall apply until 31 August 2032. From that date, the digital passport for vehicle circularity will come into force. Furthermore, the requirement to use a proportion of recycled plastic equivalent to 15 per cent of the total (rising to 25 per cent in 2036) in the manufacture of the vehicle will come into force.

Of this quota, at least 20 per cent must come from ‘closed-loop’ recycling, i.e. from end-of-life vehicles. The Commission may extend this obligation to steel, aluminium, magnesium and critical raw materials. With regard to EPR obligations, manufacturers are held financially and organisationally responsible for the entire life cycle of the vehicle, including the end-of-life phase, with an obligation to collect end-of-life vehicles free of charge and send them for treatment at authorised facilities.