EMC Directive amended: emergency procedures, 30 May

Author Hugues Orgitello Last updated 15 August 2026 ~2 min read

News · Regulatory evolution

Directive (EU) 2024/2749 had to be transposed by Member States by 29 May 2026, and national measures have applied since 30 May 2026. It amends ten harmonisation directives in a single move, including the EMC Directive 2014/30/EU and the RED directive 2014/53/EU. It is only the second amendment to the text of the EMC Directive, after Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 replaced its aviation-equipment scope exclusion in 2018.

In short:

Ten directives are amended, among them EMC, RED, low voltage, machinery and ATEX.
The new provisions only switch on once internal market emergency mode is triggered by the Commission.
They introduce priority assessment, an alternative presumption of conformity and common specifications.
Without activation, nothing changes in an ordinary certification campaign.

What the text amends

Directive 2024/2749 is the product-legislation strand of the internal market emergency and resilience package, built on Regulation (EU) 2024/2747. The directives it touches:

2000/14/EC (noise emissions), 2006/42/EC (machinery), 2010/35/EU (transportable pressure equipment), 2014/29/EU (simple pressure vessels), 2014/30/EU (electromagnetic compatibility), 2014/33/EU (lifts), 2014/34/EU (equipment for explosive atmospheres), 2014/35/EU (low voltage), 2014/53/EU (radio equipment) and 2014/68/EU (pressure equipment).

The four mechanisms added

Mechanism	Effect
Priority assessment	Notified bodies must process applications for crisis-relevant goods as a priority, without imposing disproportionate additional costs on the manufacturer
Derogation	A Member State may authorise the placing on the market of crisis-relevant goods without the normal assessment procedure, where compliance with the essential requirements is demonstrated otherwise
Alternative presumption	The Commission may designate, by implementing act, European, national or international standards as conferring presumption of conformity where harmonised standards are missing
Common specifications	The Commission may itself set technical specifications by implementing act, as a route to meeting the essential requirements

None of these applies immediately. Three cumulative conditions are required: a Commission implementing act, designation of the goods as crisis-relevant, and activation of internal market emergency mode under Regulation 2024/2747.

Why it matters beyond emergencies

For an ordinary certification campaign run in 2026, the practical effect is nil: no emergency mode is active. The interest of the text lies elsewhere, and it is structural.

Common specifications are the instrument the Commission is being pushed toward as a way out of the blockage in citing harmonised standards, which has affected the EMC Directive since June 2022. Until now that instrument existed mainly in recent regulations. It now sits in the body of the EMC Directive itself, which normalises its use and prepares the ground for the simplification work under way on the legislative framework for CE-marked products.

Put differently, the novelty of May 2026 is not one more constraint on manufacturers: it is an architectural change that makes a Commission-driven route to conformity possible.

What to take away

Nothing to do right now on an existing technical file.
The consolidated EMC Directive now carries the date of 30 May 2026: that is the version to cite in internal regulatory references.
Watch common specifications, which could become a permanent conformity route if the simplification work concludes.