EU RoHS

January 29, 2025 | Written by GreenSoft Technology, Inc.

EU RoHS Exemption Renewals Published

Draft Renewal Decisions for critical EU RoHS exemptions officially published

The European Commission has published draft renewal decisions for several EU RoHS Annex III exemptions, including critical exemptions such as 7(a), 7(c)-I, 7(c)-II, 6(a), 6(b), and 6(c).

Feedback on the draft delegated directives can be submitted until February 10, 2025, and any feedback submitted will be considered by the authorities when finalizing the draft delegated directives.

These EU RoHS Annex III exemptions, many of which are heavily applied and essential for electronics manufacturers, have been without effective expiry dates since requests for renewal were submitted as far back as November of 2019. These decisions have been long-awaited by industry, and producers are encouraged to review potential impacts to their products.

Summary of Draft Exemption Updates

The updates are complex, as some exemptions have been designated to be renewed, some designated as renewed with varying expiry dates under new application-specific exemptions, and some designated to not be renewed at all. Below is a summary of the changes:

Exemption 7(a): This exemption will remain in force in its current form until December 31, 2026, with specific more narrowly defined applications being additionally extended until December 31, 2027 by new exemptions 7(a)-I through 7(a)-VII.

Exemption 7(c)-I: This exemption will remain in force in its current form until December 31, 2026, with specific more narrowly defined applications being additionally extended until December 31, 2027 by new exemptions 7(c)-V and 7(c)-VI.

Exemption 7(c)-II: This exemption will remain in force until December 31, 2027.

Exemption 6(a): This exemption will not be renewed and will cease to be in force 12 months after the final delegated directive comes into force. However, Exemption 6(a)-I will be broken up into two exemptions – 6(a)-I and 6(a)-II, both of which will be in force until December 31, 2026.

Exemption 6(b): This exemption will not be renewed and will cease to be in force 12 months after the final delegated directive comes into force.

Exemptions 6(b)-I and 6(b)-II: These exemptions will not be renewed for product categories 1-7 and 10 and will cease to be in force 12 months [6(b)-I] or 18 months [6(b)-II] after the final delegated directive comes into force. However, these exemptions will remain in force for product categories 9 (industrial monitoring and control equipment) and 11 until December 31, 2026.

Additionally, a new Exemption 6(b)-III is provided which will expire December 31, 2026 and applies to product categories 1-8, 9 (other than industrial monitoring and control equipment), and 10.

Exemption 6(c): This exemption will remain in force until December 31, 2026.

The list of updated exemptions, their associated expiry dates, and links to the official draft delegated directives can be found in the table below:

The list of updated exemptions, their associated expiry dates, and links to the official draft delegated directives can be found in the table below: 

*The exemption shall not cover EEE for supply to the general public where the EEE or accessible part thereof may, during normal or foreseeable conditions of use, be placed in the mouth by children. However, the exemption shall apply where the following can be both demonstrated:

— the rate of lead release from such an EEE or any accessible part, whether coated or uncoated, does not exceed 0,05 μg/cm2 per hour (equivalent to 0,05 μg/g/h),

— for coated articles, that the coating is sufficient to ensure that this release rate is not exceeded for a period of at least two years of normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use of the EEE.

(For the purpose of this footnote, it is considered that an EEE or accessible part of an EEE may be placed in the mouth by children if it is smaller than 5 cm in one dimension or has a detachable or protruding part of that size.)

What’s Next?

According to the EU Commission’s website, the newly published delegated directives will be subject to a 4-week public feedback period while also being notified to the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade Committee (60 days). The Delegated Directive will then be adopted by the Commission.

The two-month scrutiny period of the European Parliament and the Council then commences (an extension of the scrutiny period on request is possible). After this scrutiny period, in case of no objections from the co-legislators, the Delegated Directive will be published in the Official Journal.

Can these exemptions be subject to new renewal requests?

As noted in Article 5(5) of EU RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU, an application for exemption renewal cannot be made any later than 18 months before the exemption expires. This means any renewal requests for exemptions which expire December 31, 2026 must be submitted by June 30, 2025.

Considering the publication schedule noted above, and that new requests cannot be submitted until these delegated directives are in force, time is limited. Stakeholders who intend to submit requests for any exemptions designated to expire in December 2026 should start working on their dossier(s) for exemption renewal now.

Exemptions which expire on December 31, 2027 have a little more time; those submissions will need to be made by June 30, 2026. For exemptions that have not been renewed and expire 12 or 18 months after the delegated directives come into force, applications for renewal are not possible.

GreenSoft can help with EU RoHS compliance

With the status and timing of EU RoHS exemptions regularly being updated, keeping track of the various expiration dates and current exemptions is a complicated task. Companies should prepare and plan for a time when they can no longer apply such exemptions, as the exemptions could expire as soon as 12 months after the European Commission's exemption review decision if the exemption is not renewed, as demonstrated by the renewal actions outlined above.

EU RoHS compliance is mandatory for affected companies that manufacture or distribute products in the European market. Failure to comply with EU RoHS can result in loss of market access, supply chain disruptions, and other serious consequences for manufacturers and distributors.

GreenSoft Technology provides personalized Data Services and GreenData Manager software to help electronics manufacturers with EU RoHS compliance. We’ll collect data on the chemicals contained in your products so that you can ensure you’re complying with the EU RoHS Directive.

Additionally, GreenSoft Technology maintains a compiled list of the EU RoHS Exemptions in order to perform EU RoHS Data Services for our customers and to keep our GreenData Manager software up-to-date. We also make this list available online to the public for your convenience and reference. You can download the updated EU RoHS Exemptions List here.

Learn more about our environmental compliance Data Services or contact us today to get started.