Manbat has been moved to react to a raft of misinformed information that has hit the trade press in recent months regarding the forthcoming EU Directive 2006,66,EC and Regulation (EC) 897,2008 (REACH).

Much has been written on the subject of the battery labelling directive and while the content of some of these articles has been correct, it has been credited to entirely the wrong directive.

Regulation (EC) 897,2008, the much quoted 'REACH' legislation, is aimed to improve the protection of human health and the environment while maintaining the competitiveness and enhancing the innovative capability of the EU chemical industry.' It has in itself, no relation to labelling generally, or battery labelling in particular.

The labelling issues are covered in Article 21 annexed to EU Directive 2006,66,EC. All batteries and accumulators must be appropriately marked with the crossed out wheeled bin symbol (a copy of which accompanies this document), which must be up to a maximum size of 5cm x 5cm.

The directive places the responsibility upon the battery manufacturers,distributors and wholesalers to ensure that the capacity of all portable, automotive batteries and accumulators is indicated on them in a visible, indelible and legible form.

For automotive batteries, the capacity of every battery in Ampere Hours (Ah) at the 20 hour rate is provided and complimented by an indication of the ability of the battery to start an engine in cold climate, i.e. the "Cold Cranking Amperes" (CCA).

The only specific information relating to chemicals in this particular directive is the need for batteries to carry the appropriate chemical symbol if they contain more than 0.0005% Mercury, 0.002% cadmium and
0.004% lead.

Despite that fact tha