The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has welcomed a one month delay in the implementation date of the Battery Directive for retailers which were originally scheduled for 1 January 2010. The BRC has been campaigning for the postponement of the original date as it would create a New Year nightmare for shops. It comes at retailers’ busiest time of the year and is precisely the same time they are expected to cope with the task of reversing last year’s VAT cut – the BRC has already called on the Chancellor to use next week’s budget to announce he will delay the VAT increase by at least a month.
As the new regulations were laid before Parliament, the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) announced they will now apply to retailers from 1 February 2010.
The BRC has also welcomed the Government’s recognition that the current classification of used lithium batteries as ‘hazardous waste’ could stop retailers collecting them from stores in the same vehicles that deliver goods to stores. Government and the BRC agree the scheme must be easy, cheap and environmentally friendly. Preventing so-called ‘reverse haulage’ would undermine that objective.
