This is the English edition. The article body below is the publisher's English rendering of the original Chinese article; figures, license numbers and institutional names follow the original.

On July 30, 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued Announcement No. 20 of 2026, formally repealing all provisions concerning "cascade use" in the Industry Standard Conditions for the Comprehensive Utilization of Retired Traction Batteries from New Energy Vehicles (2024 Edition), ending cascade use enterprise announcement management, and removing all 100 announced "cascade use" enterprises from the compliance list.

Five Dimensions of the Announcement

  • Repeal the "cascade use" provisions; only the recycling (regeneration) enterprise list remains.
  • Battery products made from retired traction batteries are brought under the general "battery manufacturing" regulatory framework, must meet application-field quality standards, and must be conspicuously labeled as "reused products."
  • Safety red lines: no organization or individual may use retired traction batteries in electric bicycles or other fields prohibited by laws and regulations (currently covering electric balance bikes, scooters, energy storage systems above 100 kWh, power banks, toys, and more).
  • Comprehensively review and repeal or revise national and industry standards related to "cascade use" under MIIT's jurisdiction.
  • Relevant social organizations clean up names, business scopes, and work content involving "cascade use" and stop related promotion activities.

Why the Policy Shifted

The "cascade use" concept entered national policy in 2012, intended to recover residual value from retired batteries. In practice, however, some enterprises used it to lower safety standards, letting insufficiently tested refurbished products flow into the market. As disclosed, about 33% of all electric bicycle fires are caused by illegally modified batteries, and about 80% of the cells in those fire-prone modified batteries came from illegally dismantled and reassembled traction batteries from new energy vehicles.

The superior regulation at the institutional level is the Interim Measures for the Management of Recycling and Comprehensive Utilization of Retired Traction Batteries from New Energy Vehicles, issued jointly by six departments including MIIT on December 31, 2025 and effective April 1, 2026, which redefines "comprehensive utilization" as resource recovery activities such as dismantling, crushing, sorting, and smelting.

Practical Impact on the Recycling Industry

The direction of traction battery recycling and resource recovery is unchanged, and may even become more concentrated as small and disorderly operators exit; but any product packaging or external promotion that sells "cascade use" is no longer compliant after July 2026.

Three Things Enterprises Must Re-Align After the Announcement

  • Contract wording — if existing disposal contracts contain "cascade use" clauses, they need to be changed to resource recovery; otherwise the clauses correspond to no compliant status.
  • Promotional language — references to "cascade use" on product pages, proposals, and bid documents are non-compliant after July 2026 and need to be cleaned up across the board.
  • Asset characterization — whether the same batch of batteries is managed as solid waste, hazardous waste, or reusable products carries different requirements; determine the characterization before disposal.

What these three share: all happen before signing and publication. Changing course after batteries are loaded or materials submitted makes traceability far more costly.

Sources

CCTV.com, "Farewell to 'Cascade Use': Comprehensive Utilization of Retired Traction Batteries Enters Deep Adjustment": auto.cctv.com; China Environment News, "After Clearing Out 100 Enterprises, This Track Starts to Pay": cenews.com.cn.