On January 6, 2025, the European Union submitted three notifications to the WTO, namely G/TBT/N/EU/1102, G/TBT/N/EU/1103, and G/TBT/N/EU/1103, regarding the revision of high-frequency use exemption clauses in Annex III of the EU RoHS Directive, such as clauses 6 (a), 6 (a) - I, 6 (b), 6 (b) - I, 6 (b) - II, 6 (c), 7 (a), 7 (c) - I, and 7 (c) - II for steel alloys, aluminum alloys, copper alloys, high-temperature molten solder, and lead in electrical and electronic component glass ceramics. The revised draft will enter a 60 day period for soliciting opinions from the date of publication and is planned to be passed in March 2025. Since the EU initiated the evaluation of RoHS related exemption clause extension applications in 2020, significant progress has been made in the development of high-frequency use exemption clauses after the release of the final evaluation reports for Pack 22 in 2022 and Pack 27 in 2024. The compliance of products is closely related to the effectiveness of exemption clauses, therefore, the release of the revised draft has important reference significance for manufacturers using exemption clauses, and continuous attention needs to be paid to the release of the final EU revision in the future.
