EU chemicals agency begins work to identify hazardous substances in vehicles under new end-of-life vehicle rules

The EU end-of-life vehicle regulation framework has changed: Regulation (EU) 2026/1738 on circularity requirements for vehicle design and on the management of end-of-life vehicles entered into force on 13 August 2026 and replaces Directive 2000/53/EC. On 17 August 2026 the European Chemicals Agency announced it has begun work to reduce hazardous substances in vehicles, supporting the European Commission by identifying hazardous substances used in vehicles, reviewing exemptions to existing prohibitions, and preparing restriction proposals. Most provisions of the Regulation apply from 1 September 2028.

The ELV Directive (2000/53/EC) has governed substance restrictions and end-of-life treatment for vehicles in the EU since 2000. Its core chemical provision prohibits lead, mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium in materials and components of new vehicles, subject to a list of specific exemptions. It also sets a target of 85% reuse and recycling and 95% reuse and recovery by weight per vehicle, and requires that vehicles be designed so that materials, parts and components can be removed for reuse and recycling (IEA policy record on the EU ELV rules; Directive 2000/53/EC).

A review launched in 2021 produced a 2023 Commission proposal for a Regulation on circularity requirements for vehicle design and on management of end-of-life vehicles, amending Regulations (EU) 2018/858 and (EU) 2019/1020 and repealing Directives 2000/53/EC and 2005/64/EC. The stated intent of the proposal was to extend the framework across the whole vehicle life cycle and to broaden the scope beyond passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (IEA policy record). The final scope and transitional arrangements must be read from the adopted text in the Official Journal rather than from the proposal.

The practical significance of the switch from a directive to a regulation is immediate: a directive requires national transposition and produces 27 slightly different national regimes; a regulation applies directly in all Member States from its date of application. That is the structural difference between the ELV Directive and the new ELV Regulation that compliance teams need to internalise first.

ECHA published the news item "ECHA begins work to reduce hazardous substances in vehicles" on 17 August 2026, confirmed on ECHA's news index and homepage news listing. In its own communication ECHA stated that the new EU rules for end-of-life vehicles aim to make vehicles more circular, and that it will support the work by identifying hazardous substances in vehicles, reviewing exemptions to existing prohibitions, and preparing restriction proposals.

Three elements of that statement matter for automotive suppliers. First, substance identification: ECHA is assembling the evidence base on what hazardous substances are actually present in vehicles. Second, exemption review: the existing prohibitions on heavy metals carry a long list of application-specific exemptions, and those are being revisited. Third, restriction preparation: ECHA is positioned to prepare restriction proposals, which is the same scientific-dossier function it performs under REACH.

ECHA's role here is support to the European Commission on the chemical-safety aspects of the new framework. ECHA does not itself adopt bans on substances in vehicles; restriction and exemption decisions follow the established EU decision-making procedures set out in the governing legislation. Readers should treat any characterisation of ECHA as an autonomous automotive regulator as incorrect.

The restriction core carried into the new framework is the prohibition on lead, mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium in materials and components of vehicles, with application-specific exemptions listed in Annex II of Directive 2000/53/EC (IEA policy record; Directive 2000/53/EC). Typical historic exemption categories cover applications such as lead in certain alloys, solders and batteries — practitioners should work from the current consolidated Annex II text rather than from memory, because the list has been amended repeatedly by Commission decisions since 2000.

Regulation (EU) 2026/1738 carries forward the heavy metal restrictions and provides for the continued review of the associated exemptions, taking into account scientific and technical progress as well as the technical and economic feasibility of alternatives. That review criterion is the decisive one: an exemption survives on the demonstrated absence of a technically and economically feasible substitute, not on incumbency.

Beyond the existing restrictions, the Regulation introduces a broader focus on substances of concern. Vehicles are to be designed and manufactured in a way that minimises the presence of substances of concern in materials, parts and components. The Regulation also covers recycled content, information flows through the supply chain, and the treatment of end-of-life vehicles.

The mechanism for expanding beyond the four heavy metals is a Commission report, prepared with the assistance of ECHA, identifying substances of concern present in vehicles and assessing the extent to which they may hinder reuse and recycling or adversely affect human health or the environment. That report is due by 14 February 2028.

Note on sourcing: the detailed provisions and dates in this section are drawn from regulatory summaries of the adopted text of Regulation (EU) 2026/1738. Verify every article reference against the Official Journal text before building an internal compliance plan on it.

The population affected is wider than vehicle manufacturers. Anyone placing vehicles, parts or components on the EU market — manufacturers, importers, and their tier-one and tier-two suppliers of materials, coatings, fasteners, electronics and textiles — sits inside the data chain that the substances-of-concern report will draw on.

The near-term operational issue is not an immediate ban. It is substance data, material composition and supply-chain documentation. If the Commission and ECHA are assembling an evidence base on substances present in vehicles between now and the 14 February 2028 report deadline, suppliers will be asked for composition data at a level of granularity that many bills of materials do not currently support.

The second-order effect is on exemption-dependent designs. Any part whose compliance rests on an Annex II exemption for lead, cadmium, mercury or hexavalent chromium is now exposed to a review that explicitly weighs the feasibility of alternatives. Engineering changes to machined steel components, solders, coatings and surface treatments have qualification lead times measured in quarters, not weeks — which is why exemption exposure needs to be mapped before, not after, a review outcome is published.

For material declaration practice: the automotive industry's established material data systems (IMDS and equivalent supply-chain declaration tooling) are the practical vehicle for collecting this information. That is practitioner practice, not a requirement created by the Regulation — the legal obligation is to minimise substances of concern and to provide the information the Regulation specifies.

The compliance task splits into three workstreams, each with a different clock.

Build a vehicle- and part-level inventory of the four restricted heavy metals and of candidate substances of concern. Identify, for each affected part, which Annex II exemption is being relied on and what the technical justification is. This is the dataset that will be needed when the exemption review and the substances-of-concern report generate information requests.

The Regulation requires that vehicles be designed and manufactured so as to minimise the presence of substances of concern, consistent with the design-for-removal principle already in Directive 2000/53/EC. Separately, from 1 September 2029 manufacturers must provide specified information enabling the safe removal and replacement of vehicle parts, components and materials for new types of vehicles. That is a documentation deliverable tied to type approval timing, and it needs to be scoped into vehicle programmes that will reach new-type status in 2029.

ECHA has stated it will prepare restriction proposals. Treat ECHA's registry of restriction intentions and its consultations as a monitored feed: a restriction proposal published with a consultation window is the last practical point at which industry data on technical feasibility can influence the outcome.

The dates to put in the calendar, based on summaries of the adopted Regulation:

During the transition, the existing End-of-Life Vehicles Directive remains largely applicable. In practice this means the Annex II exemption regime and the existing heavy metal prohibitions continue to govern products placed on the market before the Regulation's provisions apply. Do not assume a compliance holiday between 13 August 2026 and 1 September 2028.

On enforcement: the Regulation amends Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products, and Regulation (EU) 2018/858 on type approval, which places ELV obligations inside the existing vehicle type-approval and market surveillance machinery. The specific enforcement intensity after 1 September 2028 is not something any official source has quantified, and this article does not forecast it.

A regulation is directly applicable in all Member States without transposition, which removes the national divergence that existed under Directive 2000/53/EC. However, the Regulation operates partly through implementing and delegated measures, with the relevant enabling provisions applying from 14 September 2026 — so the detailed technical requirements will arrive progressively through secondary legislation rather than all at once. National treatment operators and dismantling infrastructure remain organised under Member State permitting systems; the Regulation does not change who issues those permits.

Map exemption exposure first. Produce a list of every part number whose compliance depends on an Annex II exemption for lead, cadmium, mercury or hexavalent chromium, with the exemption number, the application, the volume and the supplier. If you cannot produce that list in a week, that itself is the finding — the data gap will become the bottleneck when the exemption review generates questions.

Upgrade material declaration coverage before February 2028. Set a completeness target for full material disclosure across the bill of materials and run supplier escalation against it now, while there is no deadline pressure. The Commission report on substances of concern is due 14 February 2028, and information requests tend to arrive with short response windows.

Assign ownership of the ECHA feed. One named person should monitor ECHA's news and consultation channels for ELV-related restriction intentions and exemption review consultations, and should be authorised to commit engineering time to prepare technical feasibility submissions within a consultation window.

Scope the 2029 dismantling information deliverable into vehicle programmes now. Any vehicle type reaching new-type status on or after 1 September 2029 needs the safe removal and replacement information package as a programme deliverable, with the responsible function identified at the start of the programme rather than at homologation.

Read the Official Journal text, not summaries. Every date and obligation cited here that concerns Regulation (EU) 2026/1738 comes from regulatory summaries of the adopted act. Before committing budget, have the legal team confirm the article numbers, the scope definition (including which vehicle categories are covered), and the transitional provisions against the published text.

The next concrete milestones are the implementing and delegated measures flowing from the provisions that began to apply on 14 September 2026, and the Commission report on substances of concern in vehicles due by 14 February 2028. Any ECHA restriction proposal arising from the vehicle work will appear first as a registered intention, followed by a public consultation — that consultation is the operative deadline for industry input.

Next milestone: substances of concern report. The Commission report on substances of concern in vehicles, prepared with ECHA's assistance, is due by 14 February 2028; any ECHA restriction proposal arising from the vehicle work will appear first as a registered intention, followed by a public consultation.