On January 26, 2023, the European Commission issued Directive (EU) 2023/171 in its Official Journal (OJ), amending the relevant exemption items in Annex III of the EU RoHS Directive (2011/65/EU), and adding the exemption provisions on hexavalent chromium in Item 9 (a) - III. The exemption will take effect on September 1, 2023 and will be valid until December 31, 2026.

GB 31241-2022 \"Safety Technical Specification for Lithium-ion Batteries and Battery Packs for Portable Electronic Products\" (hereinafter referred to as the \"New Standard\") has been officially issued on December 29, 2022, and will be implemented and replace GB 31241-2014 (hereinafter referred to as the \"old Standard\") from January 1, 2024.

On January 19, 2023, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) notified that DOE issued a pre-release Federal Register EERE-2020-BT-STD-0006 on the proposed rulemaking (NOPR) for energy conservation standards for external power sources (EPS). The Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) requires the Department of Energy to regularly determine whether stricter standards are technically feasible and economically reasonable in order to achieve significant energy conservation. In this NOPR, the Ministry of Energy proposed revised standards for EPS and announced that a public meeting would be held to accept comments on these proposed standards and related analysis and results.

On January 17, 2023, the European Chemical Administration (ECHA) included nine SVHC reviewed substances in the candidate list of substances of high concern (SVHC). So far, the SVHC candidate list has been officially updated to 233 items. Resorcinol (CAS No. 108-46-3), which was previously proposed to be included in the SVHC list in June 2021, is still in a pending state and has not been added to the SVHC candidate substances list this time.

On December 29, 2022, the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration of the People\'s Republic of China issued an announcement on the national supervision and random inspection plan for product quality in 2023. The national supervision and spot check plan for product quality in 2023 includes 142 products in total, including 38 kinds of electronic appliances, 9 kinds of agricultural means of production, 16 kinds of construction and decoration materials, 11 kinds of electrical and material products, 23 kinds of machinery and security products, 17 kinds of daily use and textiles, 15 kinds of durable consumer goods, and 13 kinds of food-related products.

On December 7, 2022, the European Union Official Journal OJ officially issued the revised Directive (EU) 2022/2380 on universal chargers to supplement the specific implementation requirements of 3.3 (a) of the RED Directive 2014/53/EU on universal charging interfaces.

In December 2022, BIO Innovation Service, the European Union\'s RoHS directive consulting agency, published the final evaluation report of the EU RoHS directive consulting project Pack 23 on its official website. The report evaluated and recommended the extension of 12 exemption clauses in Annex III of the RoHS directive, including 4 (f), 8 (b), 8 (b) (I), 9, 9 (a) (II), 13 (a), 13 (b), 13 (b) (I), 13 (b) (II), 13 (b) (III), 15, 15 (a). In the future, according to the recommendations of this evaluation report, the EU will issue the final exemption clause update directive in the official gazette (EUOJ). Enterprises can refer to the contents of this evaluation report to make product adjustments and respond to regulatory changes in advance.

On September 20, 2022, California signed the AB 2208 Act, which will phase out and prohibit the sale of mercury-containing fluorescent lamps in California. From January 1, 2024, spiral or bayonet compact fluorescent lamps shall not be sold in California as newly manufactured products; From January 1, 2025, pin type compact fluorescent lamps and linear fluorescent lamps shall not be sold in California as newly manufactured products.