Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of regulatory divergence between Great Britain and Northern Ireland on the EUBR's sustainability and hardware requirements; and what steps she is taking to ensure that such divergence does not create new non-tariff barriers for trade within the UK internal market.

Defra commissioned a research project to inform our ongoing assessment on the impacts of regulatory divergence between Great Britain (GB) and Northern Ireland on the EU Batteries Regulation.

Defra is working with the Devolved Governments to review the UK’s producer responsibility legislation for batteries. As part of this review, my officials held a series of workshops with industry earlier this year to explore the impacts of regulatory alignment with the requirements of the EU Batteries Regulation in GB and will formally consult on proposals in due course. The EU Batteries Regulation applies directly in Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework.