Exemption Renewals: Why 'Still Listed' Doesn't Mean 'Still Safe'
Over a hundred RoHS exemptions currently carry an expiry date that has technically passed. Most of them are still legally valid. Some aren't.
This is one of the most misread mechanics in RoHS, and it produces two opposite mistakes with the same root cause: not distinguishing a printed expiry date from actual legal validity.
How the mechanism actually works
Under Article 5, a renewal application for an existing exemption must be filed no later than eighteen months before its stated expiry. The Commission is expected to rule on it no later than six months before expiry. Critically, Article 5(5) keeps the existing exemption legally valid until the Commission actually issues a decision — even after the calendar date printed on the exemption has passed.
That's why, at any given time, a large number of exemptions on the Commission's rolling plan show an expiry date in the past but a status of "valid." It's not an oversight in the tracking data. It's the mechanism working as designed, buying the market time while a legitimate, timely renewal is reviewed.
The two mistakes this creates
Mistake one: panicking at a passed date. A team sees an exemption's printed expiry has come and gone and assumes they're suddenly non-compliant. If a renewal was filed on time, they're not — the exemption is still in force pending the decision.
Mistake two — the more dangerous one: assuming the protection is automatic. It isn't. The exemption only remains valid because someone filed a renewal application within the eighteen-month window. If no renewal was filed, or one was filed late, or a renewal is ultimately rejected, the exemption is genuinely gone — and a transition window of twelve to eighteen months from the Commission's decision is all that's left before the product must comply without it.
What this means operationally
Checking the printed expiry date on an exemption is not sufficient due diligence. What actually matters is the current status on the Commission's rolling plan, and — for anything your product depends on — confirmation that a renewal was filed, and when. Treating an exemption you rely on as a permanent design assumption, rather than a dated risk with a real chance of lapsing, is one of the most common sources of late-stage compliance surprises we see.