July 2026: changes to second-life battery provisions
Second-life enterprise listing ends, with product quality and end-use requirements clarified.
- Document / event
- MIIT Announcement No. 20 (2026)
- Issuing / organising body
- MIIT
- Announcement date
- 2026-07-30
- Nature and status
- Current policy amendment
Second-life enterprise listing ends
The announcement repeals second-life provisions in the 2024 industry conditions, ends listing management for these businesses and removes existing corresponding listings. Previously announced material-recycling enterprise lists remain valid. This is not cancellation of the entire processing-enterprise listing system.
Quality assessed against actual use
Battery products made from waste traction batteries must meet standards for their intended applications. Product identity, end use and applicable quality requirements take precedence over a broad second-life label. A historical enterprise listing does not establish conformity of every product in every application.
Prohibited applications
Waste traction batteries must not be used in electric bicycles as packs, modules or cells, whether intact or after splitting, regrouping or assembly. Other uses prohibited by law, administrative regulations and mandatory standards are also excluded. Changing the intermediate process or physical form does not bypass these limits.
Review of related standards
Relevant standardisation organisations must review second-life national and industry standards for repeal or revision; authorities must adjust related policy and strengthen enforcement. The continued existence of a standard number alone does not establish current applicability.
Industry activities and communication
Relevant associations must review names, business scopes and activities involving second-life use, and stop related promotion, exhibitions, consulting and training. Objective policy history should be distinguished from presenting the former category as a broad current product or qualification claim.
No blanket prohibition on every further use
Order No. 73 and Announcement No. 20 focus on end use, quality and safety. Outside explicitly prohibited fields, a product still needs assessment against legislation, mandatory standards, market access and quality requirements. This does not mean every retired battery must be crushed, nor does it create a general list of permitted uses.
Describe project routes through specific processes
Project descriptions can identify testing, separation, regrouping, PACK assembly and pretreatment for material recycling, then specify the intended product and destination. Former terminology should be read in its historical context alongside the current requirements.
Sources
- Current rulesMIIT Announcement No. 20 of 2026
- Current rulesSix-ministry Order No. 73: interim management measures