Batteries law could force iPhone design change

New EU batteries legislation that came into force across Europe late last month could force the redesign of products whose batteries are not removable, such as Apple's iPhone and iPod.

At issue is the New Batteries Directive of 2006, which became law in the UK and other EU member states on 26 September. The new law largely focuses on shifting more of the responsibility for battery recycling onto manufacturers of electronics, in an effort to prevent batteries and their toxic contents from ending up in landfills — something previous legislation, dating from the early 1990s, has failed to accomplish.

However, another of the law's provisions — Article 11 — requires that devices' batteries can be "readily removed".

"The requirement is clearly there to encourage equipment designers to produce devices where the battery can be removed by opening the cover by hand or after the removal of literally just one or two screws," said Gary Nevison, a specialist in legislation and environmental affairs for electronics distributor Farnell UK, in an interview with ZDNet.co.uk.

This provision may mean the end of the line for devices such as the iPod or the iPhone, whose batteries are integrated into the device in such a way that only the manufacturer is capable of removing them.

The catch is that the meaning of "readily removed", like some other provisions of the New Batteries Directive, is undefined, and "seems to rely on common sense", according to Nevison.

A more precise definition may in fact never be forthcoming, due to the complexity involved with getting all 27 EU member states to agree on the exact terminology, Nevison said, so manufacturers will have to use their own best judgement on how to comply with Article 11. This could involve including easy-to-follow instructions on battery removal, he said.

The New Batteries Directive's Article 11 is designed to prevent batteries from being sent to landfills along with the electronic devices they power. Other provisions of the law, such as new warning notifications, are designed to encourage users to remove and recycle the batteries.

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The law is an update to the previous Batteries Directive, adopted by the EU in March 1991, which failed to keep batteries out of landfills. According to Defra figures, the UK currently collects less than two percent of consumer batteries when they become waste.

The requirement that batteries be easily removable has some exemptions, such as where "for safety, performance, medical or data-integrity reasons, continuity of power supply is necessary and requires a permanent connection", according to the directive.

For example, batteries integrated into integrated circuits may be exempt from the law, Nevison said.

Even some of the most central parts of the new directive, such as the specifics of how producers will be required to take responsibility for recycling, are still under debate, according to Nevison. "As with RoHS [the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive], there are still plenty of unanswered questions," he said.

RoHS, was designed to limit the amount of certain hazardous chemicals in EU waste, and influenced, for instance, the removal of Apple's iSight web camera from its international product line.

The new EU law institutes a target that 25 percent of discarded household batteries should be collected by 2012, rising to 45 percent in 2016. By 26 September, 2009, all collected batteries should be recycled, according to the directive.

The process of clarifying all the provisions of the law is likely to be a long one, judging from a similar process that has followed on from the adoption of the RoHS in 2006. The first studies intended to clarify certain parts of RoHS are only now about to appear, two years later, according to Nevison.

Apple already offers free recycling for its iPod and iPhone products.