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Finland's waste classification of used EV traction batteries

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Finnish guidance issued on July 3, 2026 can make salvaged-module electric-car battery repair uneconomic, according to an independent repairer and Finnish motoring media.[1][2] The guidance, from the Lupa- ja valvontavirasto (Licensing and Supervisory Authority, or LVV) together with the safety agency Tukes and the transport agency Traficom, classifies a traction battery in a scrapped or written-off car as legal waste, bars reusing such a battery as-is, and turns a shop that prepares or remanufactures it into the battery's producer (manufacturer) under EU Battery Regulation Article 56(2), a status that carries CE marking, conformity, and vehicle type-approval duties.[3][4][5][6] A widely shared cost figure of about 78,000 euros to renew the batteries of three cars worth about 30,000 euros is the shop owner's own estimate, which KaaraTV explicitly declined to treat as verified fact.[2]

Background

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Finland's Waste Act (jätelaki 646/2011) defines waste in 5 § as a substance or object that its holder discards, intends to discard, or is obliged to discard.[7] Section 5 b § sets the end-of-waste criteria: recovered material stops being waste only when it is destined for a specific use, has a market or demand, meets the technical requirements and standards for that use, and does not overall cause harm to health or the environment.[8] Producer responsibility under 48 § covers batteries and accumulators, including those built into vehicles.[9]

Section 5 of Finland's Waste Act 646/2011 defines waste as a substance or object that its holder discards, intends to discard, or is obliged to discard (jonka sen haltija on poistanut tai aikoo poistaa käytöstä taikka on velvollinen poistamaan käytöstä).[10]

At the EU level, Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 governs the whole battery life cycle. Its Recital 16 states that batteries subject to preparation for re-use, preparation for repurposing, repurposing or remanufacturing are considered to be placed on the market anew and must comply with the Regulation.[11] Recital 17 sets the remanufacturing threshold: restoring a battery's capacity to at least 90 percent of its original rated capacity counts as remanufacturing and triggers a specific regime.[12]

Recital 17 of EU Battery Regulation 2023/1542 treats restoring a battery to at least 90 percent of its original rated capacity as remanufacturing that needs a specific regime.[12]

The dispute surfaced through Kokkola Autohuolto (Kokkolan Autohuolto), a Finnish workshop whose owner, Jesse Haapala, repairs the high-voltage batteries of electric and hybrid cars mainly with used modules, matching module age and state of health (the remaining capacity of a used battery relative to when it was new) rather than mixing a new module into an aged pack.[2]

July 2026 guidance

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The guidance, co-authored by LVV, Tukes, and Traficom, sets out when a traction battery becomes waste and what obligations follow.[13] On the waste trigger, it states that:

  • A battery is waste when the vehicle is scrapped or is intended to be scrapped, when the holder permanently removes the battery from use, when the battery cannot be repaired safely or in a technically sensible way, or when a crash, fire, or other damage leaves its safety uncertain (precautionary principle).[3]
  • Waste batteries removed from end-of-life vehicles are hazardous waste.[14]
  • A waste battery cannot be taken back into use as-is; it must be prepared for reuse through specific measures.[15]
The guidance's own list of when a traction battery becomes waste (Milloin akku muuttuu jätteeksi?), starting with a battery in a car that is scrapped or intended to be scrapped (Ajoneuvo romutetaan tai aiotaan romuttaa).[3]

On the treatment path, the guidance states that:

  • Preparation for reuse is waste treatment and also requires an end-of-waste (ei-enää-jätettä, EEJ) decision.[14]
  • In its worked examples, the guidance equates preparation for reuse with waste treatment and states it requires an environmental permit.[16]

On product liability, the guidance states that:

  • Under Battery Regulation Article 56(2), preparers for reuse, repurposers, and remanufacturers are producers when they make the product available on the market.[4]
  • Preparation for reuse and remanufacturing amount to placing a new product on the market, so the original manufacturer's responsibility ends and the remanufacturer becomes the responsible party (the manufacturer).[17]
  • The manufacturer is responsible for conformity, for the EU declaration of conformity and technical file, and for CE marking.[5]
  • The guidance defines remanufacturing, per Battery Regulation Article 3(32), as disassembly to cell and module level, replacing a number of cells or modules to restore capacity to at least 90 percent of the original rated capacity, with individual cells differing by at most 3 percent, for the same application.[18]
The guidance stating that under EU Battery Regulation Article 56(2) a battery remanufacturer becomes a producer when placing the product on the market (uudelleenvalmistajat ovat myös tuottajia asettaessaan tuotteen saataville markkinoille).[4]

The guidance also states that conformity assessment must follow the internal production control of Module A in Annex VIII of the Battery Regulation, and that a vehicle meets its type-approval requirements only where the approved structure is not altered; altering an approved structure requires demonstrating conformity as vehicle legislation requires.[19][6]

Effect on independent repair

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Tekniikan Maailma reported in May 2026 that strict recycling rules threaten to make repairing electric-car batteries expensive or even impossible, and that if a battery cannot be economically restored after the warranty period, even a small battery fault leads to scrapping the whole car.[1]

KaaraTV reported that Haapala, in an August 28, 2026 video, described two figures from his own workbench: a battery-renewal estimate of about 78,000 euros for three cars of the same make whose market value was about 30,000 euros, and a two-millimeter dent in a battery floor that could reach the same price bracket if the repair is done on the manufacturer's terms without used parts.[2] KaaraTV attributed the numbers to Haapala and stated that they should not be treated as fact:

Nämä ovat Haapalan työpöydältä tulevia arvioita, eivät merkkiliikkeen julkisia tarjouksia. Lukuja ei ole syytä oikoa faktoiksi.

[2]

In English: these are estimates from Haapala's workbench, not a dealership's public quotes, and there is no reason to straighten the numbers into facts. KaaraTV described Haapala's tens of thousands of euros permit-and-process cost the same way, as the workshop's experience rather than an official tariff.[2]

KaaraTV also reported the timeline the interpretation rests on: LVV began operating on January 1, 2026 and took over environmental and producer-responsibility duties previously held by the regional ELY centres, and the Battery Regulation's waste-management and producer-responsibility chapter has applied since August 18, 2025.[2] The same report characterized the current recycling route in Finland as one where traction batteries are pretreated, shipped onward, and crushed into black mass that flows largely to Asia and returns as new cells; it noted that Finnish traction batteries move through the approved producer community, Suomen Autokierrätys, and its contracted operators.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Virta, Ismo (2026-05-30). "Käytetyn sähköauton riski kasvaa. Uudet säännöt uhkaavat tehdä akkujen korjaamisesta kallista tai jopa mahdotonta". Tekniikan Maailma (in suomi). Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Liinpää, Antti (2026-08-29). "Kahden millin lommo ja 78 000 euron arvio. Laki ei murskaa akkua, tulkinta voi". KaaraTV (in suomi). Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Ohje ajovoima-akkujen käsittelyyn ja uudelleenkäyttöön" (PDF) (in suomi). Lupa- ja valvontavirasto. 2026-07-03. Retrieved 2026-08-31. Slide 33 ("Milloin akku muuttuu jätteeksi?").
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Ohje ajovoima-akkujen käsittelyyn ja uudelleenkäyttöön" (PDF) (in suomi). Lupa- ja valvontavirasto. 2026-07-03. Retrieved 2026-08-31. Slide 25 ("Akkuasetuksen artiklan 56 kohdan 2 mukaan uudelleenvalmistajat ovat myös tuottajia asettaessaan tuotteen saataville markkinoille").
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Ohje ajovoima-akkujen käsittelyyn ja uudelleenkäyttöön" (PDF) (in suomi). Lupa- ja valvontavirasto. 2026-07-03. Retrieved 2026-08-31. Slide 7: the manufacturer is responsible for conformity, for the EU declaration of conformity and technical file, and for CE marking ("Valmistaja on vastuussa siitä, että tuote on vaatimustenmukainen").
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Ohje ajovoima-akkujen käsittelyyn ja uudelleenkäyttöön" (PDF) (in suomi). Lupa- ja valvontavirasto. 2026-07-03. Retrieved 2026-08-31. Slide 8 ("ajoneuvoissa tulee aina huomioitavaksi tuotteen asianmukainen hyväksyntä liikennekäytön kannalta"; altering an approved structure requires demonstrating conformity per vehicle legislation).
  7. ↑ "Jätelaki 646/2011, 5 §" (in suomi). Finlex. 2011-06-17. Archived from the original on 2022-01-19. Retrieved 2026-08-31. 5 § ("Tässä laissa tarkoitetaan jätteellä ainetta tai esinettä, jonka sen haltija on poistanut tai aikoo poistaa käytöstä taikka on velvollinen poistamaan käytöstä").
  8. ↑ "Jätelaki 646/2011, 5 b §" (in suomi). Finlex. 2011-06-17. Archived from the original on 2022-01-19. Retrieved 2026-08-31. 5 b § ("Jäte, joka on kierrätetty tai muuten hyödynnetty, ei ole enää jätettä, jos: 1) sitä on määrä käyttää erityisiin tarkoituksiin; 2) sillä on markkinat tai kysyntää; 3) se täyttää käyttötarkoituksensa mukaiset tekniset vaatimukset ...; ja 4) sen käyttö ei kokonaisuutena arvioiden aiheuta vaaraa tai haittaa terveydelle tai ympäristölle").
  9. ↑ "Jätelaki 646/2011, 48 §" (in suomi). Finlex. 2011-06-17. Archived from the original on 2022-01-19. Retrieved 2026-08-31. 48 §(1)(4) ("paristot ja akut, mukaan lukien sähkö- ja elektroniikkalaitteisiin, ajoneuvoihin tai muihin tuotteisiin sisältyvät paristot ja akut").
  10. ↑ "Jätelaki 646/2011, 5 §" (in suomi). Finlex. 2011-06-17. Archived from the original on 2022-01-19. Retrieved 2026-08-30.
  11. ↑ "Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 concerning batteries and waste batteries, Recital 16". Official Journal of the European Union. 2023-07-12. Archived from the original on 2026-06-21. Retrieved 2026-08-31. Recital 16 ("batteries that have been subject to preparation for re-use, preparation for repurposing, repurposing or remanufacturing, are considered to be placed on the market anew and should therefore comply with this Regulation").
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 concerning batteries and waste batteries, Recital 17". Official Journal of the European Union. 2023-07-12. Archived from the original on 2026-06-21. Retrieved 2026-08-31. Recital 17 ("the restoration of the battery capacity to at least 90 % of the original rated battery capacity should be considered to be remanufacturing and necessitates the application of a specific regime").
  13. ↑ "Ohje ajovoima-akkujen käsittelyyn ja uudelleenkäyttöön" (PDF) (in suomi). Lupa- ja valvontavirasto. 2026-07-03. Retrieved 2026-08-31. Slide 2 ("Ohjeen ovat valmistelleet yhteistyössä Lupa- ja valvontavirasto, Tukes ja Traficom").
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Ohje ajovoima-akkujen käsittelyyn ja uudelleenkäyttöön" (PDF) (in suomi). Lupa- ja valvontavirasto. 2026-07-03. Retrieved 2026-08-31. Slide 13 ("Uudelleenkäytön valmistelu on jätteenkäsittelyä. Uudelleenkäytön valmistelu vaatii myös ei-enää-jätettä-päätöksen"; "Romuajoneuvoista irrotetut jäteakut ovat vaarallista jätettä").
  15. ↑ "Ohje ajovoima-akkujen käsittelyyn ja uudelleenkäyttöön" (PDF) (in suomi). Lupa- ja valvontavirasto. 2026-07-03. Retrieved 2026-08-31. Slide 23 ("Jäteakkuja ei voi ottaa sellaisenaan uudelleenkäyttöön, vaan ne on valmisteltava uudelleenkäyttöön erityisin toimin").
  16. ↑ "Ohje ajovoima-akkujen käsittelyyn ja uudelleenkäyttöön" (PDF) (in suomi). Lupa- ja valvontavirasto. 2026-07-03. Retrieved 2026-08-31. Slide 42, worked example 7 ("Uudelleenkäyttöön valmistelu rinnastetaan jätteenkäsittelyyn ja se vaatii ympäristöluvan").
  17. ↑ "Ohje ajovoima-akkujen käsittelyyn ja uudelleenkäyttöön" (PDF) (in suomi). Lupa- ja valvontavirasto. 2026-07-03. Retrieved 2026-08-31. Slide 27 ("Uudelleenkäytön valmistelussa sekä uudelleenvalmistuksessa on kyse uuden tuotteen saattamisesta markkinoille, jolloin alkuperäisen valmistajan vastuu päättyy, ja uudelleenvalmistaja on vastuussa tuotteesta").
  18. ↑ "Ohje ajovoima-akkujen käsittelyyn ja uudelleenkäyttöön" (PDF) (in suomi). Lupa- ja valvontavirasto. 2026-07-03. Retrieved 2026-08-31. Slide 25 (remanufacturing definition, Battery Regulation Article 3(32): disassembly to cell and module level, restore capacity to at least 90 percent, cells within 3 percent, same application).
  19. ↑ "Ohje ajovoima-akkujen käsittelyyn ja uudelleenkäyttöön" (PDF) (in suomi). Lupa- ja valvontavirasto. 2026-07-03. Retrieved 2026-08-31. Slide 29 ("vaatimustenmukaisuuden arviointi on suoritettava akkuasetuksen liitteen VIII mainitun moduulin A 'sisäinen tuotannonvalvonta' mukaisesti").
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