MIIT Drives China’s First Mandatory National Standard for Hazardous Substance Control in Electronic Products

China's first mandatory national standard for hazardous substance control in electrical and electronic products, "Requirements for the Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Products" (GB 26572-2025), was recently approved by the Standardization Administration of China and will take effect on August 1, 2027.Proposed and administered by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), this standard was developed by the China Electronics Standardization Institute in collaboration with over 60 organizations, including electronics manufacturers, certification bodies, industry associations, and research institutes.

The standard mandates controls for 10 toxic chemicals in electronic products, including four heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium) and six persistent organic pollutants (PBBs, PBDEs, and four phthalates), with compulsory limits for each substance.The standard promotes hazardous substance reduction and substitution in electronics manufacturing, facilitates green supply chain development and upgrades, enhances substance control capabilities, and supports consumer health protection and environmental risk management.

The standard explicitly requires RoHS labeling, hazardous substance disclosure, and technical documentation retention for electronic products, ensuring traceability and verifiability of compliance results to advance hazardous substance control practices.Responding to industry concerns, the standard encourages digital hazardous substance labeling via QR codes and electronic displays to drive coordinated green and digital development in the electronics sector. This enables consumers to quickly and accurately access product information and select eco-friendly products with China RoHS labels.The standard's controlled hazardous substances, limit requirements, and testing methods align with international regulations, facilitating full integration of China's electronics hazardous substance management with global standards and streamlining international trade.

Electrical and electronic products, being ubiquitous in daily life and production, are essential industrial goods. Controlling hazardous substances such as heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in these products is an international consensus.Since 2000, economies including the EU, the US, and Japan have successively implemented regulations restricting hazardous substances in electronic products. China introduced the "Management Methods for the Control of Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products" in 2006, initiating hazardous substance control for electronic information products.In 2016, MIIT and seven other agencies issued the "Management Methods for the Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Products", replacing the earlier rules and implementing a comprehensive control system of "Compliance Directory + Conformity Assessment + Post-market Supervision".Products listed in the Compliance Directory must meet hazardous substance limit requirements through nationally unified voluntary product certification or self-declaration for conformity assessment. Results must be uploaded to the China RoHS public service platform for societal supervision.MIIT, market regulatory authorities, and customs agencies strengthen post-market supervision. The mandatory national standard significantly enhances oversight of hazardous substances in electronics, marking a new step in China's product compliance management.

Next, MIIT and relevant authorities will promote the implementation of the mandatory national standard, gradually expand product and substance categories under China RoHS controls, and further improve the regulatory mechanism.

Source: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China (MIIT)