Recently, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have disclosed the details of the provisional agreement on the EU End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation (ELVR). This agreement mandates that new vehicles must incorporate a certain percentage of recycled plastics and introduces several new provisions. These include allowing chemically recycled materials to count towards the recycled plastic content targets using a mass balance accounting approach, stipulating that only post-consumer source materials are eligible for counting, considering the potential inclusion of bio-based materials and tire elastomers after review, and granting the European Commission new exemption powers. The agreement was reached in December 2025 and published on February 25, 2026, following votes in the European Parliament's committees. It will become law if passed by the European Parliament's plenary session and the Council of the European Union.

According to the provisional agreement, the EU End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation (ELVR) sets phased mandatory requirements for the recycled plastic content in new vehicles. Six years after the regulation takes effect, new vehicles must achieve a minimum of 15% recycled plastic content; ten years after it takes effect, the minimum requirement rises to 25%. At least 20% of these targets must originate from end-of-life vehicles (ELVs), meaning the minimum requirement after six years is 3% recycled plastic from ELVs and 5% after ten years. These requirements apply to passenger cars, light commercial vans, general heavy-duty vehicles, motorcycles, and special-purpose vehicles, with an exception for low-volume manufacturers of heavy special-purpose vehicles.

The EU End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation (ELVR) will also introduce design standards for new vehicles, criteria for determining vehicle end-of-life, a ban on exporting end-of-life vehicles requiring their processing in authorized treatment facilities, a framework for ownership transfer, and a cross-border Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) mechanism. Furthermore, the provisional agreement details include: allowing chemically recycled materials to use a mass balance accounting method, with the European Commission required to establish a verification method within 24 months of the regulation's entry into force; only recycled materials from post-consumer sources can count towards the minimum content targets; bio-based materials and tire elastomers may be assessed for inclusion within 72 months of the regulation taking effect; the European Commission can exercise exemption powers in cases of insufficient supply or excessively high prices; recycled plastics from non-EU countries cannot be counted towards the targets for the first 48 months after the regulation takes effect, and even if permitted later, they will face stringent audit requirements.