The Official Journal of the European Union（OJEU）published the mandatory implementation timeline for the EN 62368-1:2025 standard on 2026年5月15日。Starting from 2027年2月1日, all industrial-grade sensors, smart transmitters, and embedded sensing modules exported to the EU market must obtain certification under this new safety standard for audio/video, information and communication technology equipment。Companies producing high-precision sensors for pressure, flow, and temperature applications, as well as manufacturers and exporters serving industrial automation, process control, energy monitoring, and related fields, should pay close attention to this change——the upgraded testing requirements will materially affect product design, certification timelines, and compliance costs。

Event Overview

The Official Journal of the European Union（OJEU）officially released the mandatory enforcement timeline for the EN 62368-1:2025 standard on 2026年5月15日: this standard will fully replace the current EN 62368-1:2019 across the EU starting from 2027年2月1日。The applicable product scope explicitly includes industrial-grade sensors, smart transmitters, and embedded sensing modules。The new regulation strengthens testing requirements for abnormal power consumption and thermal runaway under wide temperature ranges（-40℃~150℃）, high-humidity environments, and electromagnetic compatibility（EMC Class B）conditions。

Which Market Segments Will Be Affected

Direct trading companies: companies exporting to the EU market in the form of complete sensor units or system integration solutions will face CE marking update obligations。Because the new version of the standard no longer accepts continuation of existing certificates based on EN 62368-1:2019, products that have not completed new certification after 2027年2月1日 may no longer continue to be placed on the EU market, directly affecting order delivery and contract performance。

Processing and manufacturing enterprises: ODM/OEM manufacturers responsible for sensor PCB design, enclosure structural development, and thermal management solution implementation need to cooperate with customers to re-conduct safety structure validation。The new regulation imposes stricter constraints on PCB layout spacing under high-temperature operating conditions, thermal resistance ratings of insulating materials, and heat dissipation path design, which may trigger adaptive adjustments to molds, fixtures, and production line tooling。

Supply chain service providers: third-party organizations providing services such as safety certification agency support, testing laboratory coordination, and technical documentation preparation will face a concentrated application window starting in the second half of 2026年。Due to the increase in test items and longer cycles under the new version of the standard, certification scheduling pressure will rise, making service response efficiency and cross-standard transition experience key capability indicators。

What Should Relevant Companies or Practitioners Focus On, and How Should They Respond Now

Confirm whether existing models fall within the mandatory scope and initiate gap analysis

Companies should immediately sort out the list of sensor models planned for export to the EU before 2027年2月1日, compare them against the equipment categories explicitly covered in Annex ZB of EN 62368-1:2025, and identify whether they fall under “industrial audio/video/ICT sensor terminals”。For products confirmed to be covered, entrust qualified laboratories to carry out standard gap comparison, with重点 assessment of compliance feasibility for newly added test items such as thermal runaway simulation, abnormal power injection, and wide-temperature cyclic aging。

Prioritize pre-certification testing under the new version for high-risk product categories

For sensor products with an operating temperature range spanning -40℃~150℃, a nominal protection rating of IP67 and above, or built-in wireless communication modules（such as LoRa、NB-IoT）, it is recommended to complete full-item pre-testing under EN 62368-1:2025 for at least one representative model before the third quarter of 2026年。This can expose structural design defects and avoid delivery delays caused by large-scale corrective modifications。

Simultaneously update technical documentation and templates for the Declaration of Conformity

The new version of the standard requires technical documentation to include supplementary content such as thermal simulation reports, PCB stack-up structure descriptions, and thermal resistance parameter tables for key components。Companies should complete revisions to internal “Declaration of Conformity”（DoC）templates before the end of 2026年, and organize joint reviews by quality and engineering departments to ensure that the documentation system corresponds one by one with the clauses of the new version of the standard。

Monitor follow-up supplementary explanations and transitional details in EU notices

Although the OJEU has made it clear that 2027年2月1日 is the mandatory effective date, no transitional arrangements have yet been issued regarding the treatment of inventory products, goods already shipped but not yet customs-cleared, or certificates already obtained but without a marked version number。Companies should continue to track supplementary notices published on the European Commission’s official website and by national accreditation bodies of member states（such as DAkkS、UKAS）to avoid compliance misjudgments caused by differences in policy interpretation。

Editorial Viewpoint / Industry Observation

Obviously, this timeline announcement functions primarily as a formal signal—not an immediate operational change—yet it crystallizes a definitive compliance deadline that reshapes product development timelines across the sensor supply chain。Analysis shows the 2027 cutoff is unusually tight for hardware-intensive categories: unlike software updates, physical redesigns and retesting cannot be accelerated post-deadline。From an industry perspective, the emphasis on thermal and EMC robustness under extreme conditions reflects a broader regulatory shift toward functional safety convergence in industrial IoT devices—even where formal IEC 61508 or ISO 13849 adoption remains voluntary。Current monitoring should therefore focus less on whether the rule will apply, and more on how national market surveillance authorities interpret enforcement scope for hybrid sensing-ICT products。

Conclusion: the publication of the mandatory timeline for EN 62368-1:2025 marks that the EU’s safety regulation of industrial sensor-type electronic equipment has entered a stage of structured upgrading。This is not a temporary adjustment, but a definite milestone in the path of standards evolution。At present, it is more appropriate to understand it as a compliance task that requires quarterly reverse scheduling, rather than a merely procedural matter requiring record filing。Companies should take the fourth quarter of 2026年 as a critical preparation window, completing technical evaluation, resource coordination, and initial certification implementation, so as to smoothly connect with the full implementation requirements in 2027年。

Information source note:
Main source: the citation notice for the harmonized standard EN 62368-1:2025 published in the Official Journal of the European Union（OJEU）on 2026年5月15日。
Areas requiring continued observation: how EU member states will handle the transition of products already in circulation but not yet newly certified under the new version, and the specific enforcement interpretations by market surveillance authorities regarding the boundary definition of “embedded sensing modules”。