RoHS Directive 2026: What's Changing and How to Stay Compliant

The RoHS Directive (2011/65/EU) is going through one of its busiest years of updates yet. As of July 1, 2026, new expiry dates and tightened conditions for lead exemptions in steel, aluminum, and copper alloys are already in force. On top of that a fresh draft delegated directive covering lead and cadmium exemptions in glass, lamps, capacitors, and oxygen sensors is currently open for public consultation until August 5, 2026.

If your organization manufactures, imports, or supplies EEE into the EU market, these changes will directly affect your product compliance planning, supplier documentation, and renewal timelines. Missing a deadline or misreading a new exemption entry can mean losing access to the EU market for affected products.

What You'll Learn

• What changed in the RoHS Directive (Annex III and Annex IV) in 2025-2026, including exemptions for lead and cadmium that were renewed, changed, or removed
• Important dates to know when the new rules start, when countries must apply them, and when old exemptions expire
• Which changes are already official law, and which are still proposals open for public feedback
• Why the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) will now help review future exemption requests, instead of only the European Commission
• Simple steps to check if your products use any of the affected exemptions, so you can plan ahead

Live Demo: Managing RoHS Compliance with CDX

Later in the session, we'll step away from the regulatory theory and show you how the Compliance Data eXchange (CDX) platform helps organizations manage RoHS exemptions in practice. You will see how it maps which exemptions your products use It also helps manage expiry dates and keeps supplier declarations organized in one place. This is especially useful if you currently track RoHS exemptions in a spreadsheet and worry about missing something important.

Who Should Attend

This session is built for product compliance managers, regulatory affairs specialists, quality and engineering teams, and supply chain professionals responsible for RoHS, REACH, or broader EU chemical and material compliance obligations.