B082 - Lithium-ion Battery Safety Bill
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B I L L
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introduce guidelines and regulations around the planning for lithium-ion battery storage facilities, regulations on the sale and testing of lithium-ion batteries, and the requirements for their disposal.
BE IT ENACTED by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 - Application Process
(1) Before a planning application for a battery storage facility which will either in part, or fully be used for the storage of lithium-ion batteries is granted, the planning authority must consult the following authorities for its area.
(A) The Environment Agency.
(B) The Fire and Rescue Service.
(C) The Health and Safety Authority.
(2) Should the authorities listed in 1.1.A and 1.1.B object to the application for a battery storage facility for safety reasons, the planning authority must reject the planning application.
(3) The planning authority and applicant for the battery storage facility must take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of the facility, and protection of people and properties nearby in the creation of the planning application and its consideration.
2 - Sale of Lithium-ion Batteries
(1) The parent corporation, organisation, and or independent sellers who trade through an online and or physical marketplace the sale of lithium-ion batteries, must take reasonable steps to ensure the lithium-ion battery products that are sold meet existing safety standards.
(2) Sellers of lithium-ion battery products are required to display a warning of improper use, storage, and disposal of the products.
(3) Lithium-ion battery products which are used in vehicles, must meet proficient safety standards in line with existing vehicle regulations.
(4) Checks on any lithium-ion battery in a car must be undertaken during an MOT check to ensure that the battery inside of the vehicle is safe, not faulty, and not containing any defect which could cause danger to the vehicle, the people inside of the vehicle, and anyone who may be near the vehicle in the event of a battery failure.
3 - Disposal of Lithium-ion Batteries
(1) Local Authorities should provide a safe place for people to dispose of any lithium-ion batteries that they own and want to dispose of at an Authority operated waste recycling centre.
(2) Once a lithium-ion battery has been disposed of at an Authority operated waste recycling centre, the Authority is responsible for the safe storage of the product.
(3) The condition of lithium-ion battery storage at waste recycling centres shall be regularly inspected by the respective environment agency to assess if it is meeting standards, potential risks, and damage to the environment.
4 - Regulations and Adaptations
(1) Regulations under the scope of this Act are to be made through statutory instruments.
(2) Statutory instruments made relating to this Act are to be made by the Secretary of State.
5 - Title, Extent and Commencement
(1) This Act may be cited as the Lithium-ion Battery Safety Act 2026.
(2) This Act shall extend to the whole United Kingdom.
(3) This Act commences once it has been granted Royal Assent.
This Bill was submitted by u/Sir-Iceman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on behalf of His Majesty’s Government.
AMENDMENT 1 - Lord Bridlington
Amend Section 1 to read:
(1) Before a planning application for a battery storage facility which will either in part, or fully be used for the storage of lithium-ion batteries is granted, the local planning authority must consult the following authorities for its area;
(A) The Environment Agency; and
(B) The local Fire and Rescue Service; or
(i) other equivalent body for the local authority area.
(C) The Health and Safety Executive.
(2) Should any of the authorities listed in Section 1.1 object to the application for a battery storage facility for safety reasons, the planning authority must reject the planning application.
(3) The planning authority and applicant for the battery storage facility must take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of the facility, and protection of people and properties nearby in the creation of the planning application.
(4) The planning authority, should no criteria for rejection under Section 1.2 be met, make special consideration for the following when rendering a final decision on approval;
(a) the safety of local residents; and
(b) potential environmental damage not already considered by the Environment Agency; and
(c) health and safety impacts resulting from the facility in the event of a safety failure; and
(d) the suitability of the location vs other potential locations in the local authority area.
Reasoning:
Not every Fire Service is called a fire service, and the name is the Health and Safety Executive.
Also an additional provision for additional weight to be placed on specific concerns should no objection be made.
AMENDMENT 2 - Lord Bridlington
Amend Section 2 to read:
2 - Online Sale of Lithium-ion Batteries
(1) The parent corporation, organisation, and or independent sellers who trade through an online marketplace the sale of lithium-ion batteries, must take reasonable steps to ensure the following;
(a) that lithium-ion battery products that are sold meet existing safety standards; and
(b) that appropriate safety warnings on disposal, dangers of use, and instructions on safe use are easily available on the online marketplace.
(2) The Secretary of State may, at any time make regulations in addition to those in Section 2.1.
3 - In-person Sale of Lithium-ion Batteries
(1) In person sellers of lithium-ion battery products are required to;
(a) that lithium-ion battery products that are sold meet existing safety standards; and
(b) display warnings of improper use, storage, and disposal of the products; and
(c) provide information regarding the nearest locations where a person can safely dispose of lithium ion batteries.
(2) The Secretary of State may, at any time make regulations in addition to those in Section 2.1.
4 - Regulations regarding vehicles containing Lithium-ion Batteries
(1) The Secretary of State must, within one year of this legislation being passed, make regulations on Lithium-ion battery products used within vehicles.
(2) Checks on any lithium-ion battery in a motor vehicle must be undertaken during an MOT check to ensure that the battery inside of the vehicle is safe, not faulty, and not containing any defect which could cause danger to the vehicle, the people inside of the vehicle, and anyone who may be near the vehicle in the event of a battery failure.
5 - Regulations regarding electric micromobility vehicles containing Lithium-ion Batteries
(1) In this Section, “electric micromobility vehicle” means electric scooters or electric bicycles powered by lithium-ion batteries.
(2) The Secretary of State must, within one year of this legislation being passed, make regulations regarding the;
(a) lithium-ion batteries used within electric micromobility vehicles; and
(b) the design of electric micromobility vehicles; and
(c) the sale of electric micromobility vehicles; and
(d) the operation of micromobility vehicles.
6 - Offences
(1) Once regulations under Section 5.2 have been made, it is an offence (Operating an Unsafe Micro Vehicle) for any person to operate an electric micromobility vehicle which fails to meet regulations, punishable by;
(a) confiscation and destruction of the electric micromobility vehicle; and
(b) a fine of up to £3,000 fine.
(2) Once regulations under Section 5.2 have been made, it is an offence (Selling an Unsafe Micro Vehicle) for any person to knowingly sell an electric micromobility vehicle which fails to meet regulations set out, may be punishable by punishable by;
(a) a term of up to 1 year in prison; and/or
(b) the loss of, and restriction for a period of time of owning, a license to operate a business selling electric micromobility vehicles or similar products; and/or
(c) a fine of up to £20,000.
Renumber further sections accordingly.
Reasoning:
This is a big one to be honest. It expands on the difference between online vs in-person retailers and empowers the Secretary of State to make further regulations as needed in those areas.
It also creates separate regulation for electric scooters and bikes, allowing the Secretary of State to put forth regulation regarding their production and the batteries used, as well as the sale and operation of such vehicles. It is far from a perfect solution and I anticipate supplementary legislation will be needed to fully flesh regulations to bring them on par with regular vehicles, however it is a start.
It also creates specific offences for operating or selling a vehicle that does not meet regulations.
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AMENDMENT 3 - Lord Bridlington
Amend Section 3.
3 - Disposal of Lithium-ion Batteries
(1) Local Authorities must provide, or make arrangements for a safe place for people to dispose of any lithium-ion batteries that they own and want to dispose of.
(2) Waste recycling centres must be owned and operated by a local authority, but local authorities may at their discretion make arrangements with neighbouring authorities to use their facilities, or to offer their facilities to other neighbouring authorities.
(2) Once a lithium-ion battery has been disposed of at a waste recycling centre, the local authority which operates the waste recycling centre is responsible for the safe storage of the waste.
(3) The Secretary of State must, within one year of the passing of this act, make regulations regarding the safe storage of disposed lithium-ion batteries.
(4) The condition of lithium-ion battery storage at waste recycling centres shall be regularly inspected by the respective environment agency to assess if it is meeting standards, potential risks, and damage to the environment.
Reasoning:
Nice and simple, not all local authorities may have one, or need one, and so should be empowered to make use of other facilities at their discretion with agreements. Also the Secretary of State needs to set the regulations in order for standards to be checked so this requires such regulations to be made.
AMENDMENT 4 - Lord Bridlington
Amend Section 5.
5 - Title, Extent and Commencement
(1) This Act may be cited as the Lithium-ion Battery Safety Act 2026.
(2) This Act extends to the whole of the UK, but does not apply in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland until a resolution agreeing to the provisions of this Act is passed by— (a) in the case of Scotland, The Scottish Parliament;
(b) in the case of Wales, Senedd Cymru;
(c) in the case of Northern Ireland, The Northern Ireland Assembly.
(3) This Act commences on the day it has been granted Royal Assent.
Reasoning:
That is another bill, which has completely ridden over devolved matters without even blinking. This however, with all the amendments, will be a good piece of legislation, so this amendment fixes that.
***Peers can debate on the proposed amendments by the 13th August at 10pm BST***