European Commission proposal COM(2023) 781 to amend RoHS: re-attribute scientific/technical assessment tasks to ECHA ("one substance, one assessment")

European Commission materials indicate the RoHS review was finalised and a targeted amendment was proposed on 7 Dec 2023. The proposal (COM(2023) 781) would amend Directive 2011/65/EU to re-attribute scientific and technical assessment tasks (e.g., supporting restricted substances review and exemptions work) to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) under the EU 'one substance, one assessment' approach. For RoHS compliance teams, this is a forward-looking governance/process change that could affect how future Annex II substance restrictions and Annex III/IV exemptions are assessed (evidence expectations, transparency, timelines, and stakeholder engagement), even though it does not itself add substances or change exemption text yet.