EU-US Electromagnetic Certification 2026: What Changes for Manufacturers and Exporters

Key data

If your company manufactures or exports electronic, electrical or telecommunications equipment between Europe and the United States, this decision directly affects you and can result in real savings in certification costs. The Decision 80/2026 of the EU-US Joint Committee, published on 29 September 2026 in the Official Journal of the EU, updates the list of bodies authorized to issue electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) certifications with simultaneous validity in both jurisdictions.

The critical point: if your usual certification body is not on the updated list, you will continue to pay for two separate certification processes. If it is, you can consolidate the process and reduce costs and time to market.

What does this regulation establish?

The Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) between the EU and the US allows products certified by recognized bodies in one jurisdiction to be accepted directly in the other, without the need to repeat testing. Within this agreement there is a specific sectoral annex for Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), which lists which bodies are authorized to issue these certifications with bilateral validity.

Decision 80/2026 updates that annex by incorporating new conformity assessment bodies to the official list. These bodies are authorized to issue EMC certifications recognized by both European and US authorities.

Important note: The Decision does not publish in its simplified title the specific names of the newly incorporated bodies. To consult the complete and updated list, it is essential to access the full text from the official source of the Official Journal of the EU.

Economic and operational impact

The impact of this decision is fundamentally a reduction in technical barriers and costs of access to the transatlantic market. Until now, a European manufacturer wanting to sell electronic equipment in the US had to, in many cases, submit their products to separate EMC testing by bodies recognized by the FCC or US authorities, in addition to testing carried out in Europe.

With the expansion of the list of mutually recognized bodies, more companies can access the benefits of the MRA:

• Elimination of duplicate testing: a single EMC certification process is valid for both markets.
• Reduction in time to market: less bureaucracy means reaching the market faster.
• Savings in laboratory costs: EMC testing can cost several thousand euros per product, depending on its complexity.
• Greater flexibility in choosing a certification body: with more recognized bodies, companies have more options and can negotiate better terms.

The real opportunity is that companies that previously could not benefit from the MRA because their usual certification body was not on the list can now do so if that body has been incorporated in this Decision 80/2026.

Who does it affect?

• Manufacturers of electronic devices (consumer, industrial, medical) that export or import between the EU and US
• Manufacturers of industrial machinery with electronic components subject to EMC requirements
• Manufacturers and distributors of telecommunications equipment with presence in both markets
• European importers of electronic equipment manufactured in the US that need EMC certification for the European market
• Product managers, technical directors and quality directors who manage certification processes
• CFOs and operations directors seeking to reduce market access costs in the export chain
• Conformity assessment bodies operating in the EMC sector that may be affected by the new list

Practical example

Imagine a Spanish company manufacturing industrial automation equipment that wants to export its new line of electronic controllers to the US market. Until now, its usual certification body in Spain carried out EMC testing for the European CE marking, but that body was not listed in the annex of the EU-US MRA. This forced the company to additionally hire a laboratory recognized by US authorities to repeat the testing, with additional cost and a delay of weeks in the launch.

If that Spanish body has been included in the updated list by Decision 80/2026, the company can now use the same EMC certification obtained in Spain to access the US market directly, without repeating testing. The process is simplified, the cost is reduced and the time to market is shortened. The immediate action is clear: verify in the official text whether the usual certification body is listed in the new annex.

What should companies do now?

1. Access the official text of Decision 80/2026 in the Official Journal of the EU (link at the end of this article) and locate the complete list of bodies incorporated into the EMC annex.
2. Verify whether your usual certification body is listed in the updated list. If it is included, you can already benefit from mutual recognition for your exports to the US or imports from there.
3. If your body is not on the list, evaluate whether it is worth switching to a certification body that is mutually recognized, especially if you have significant volume of transatlantic operations.
4. Review contracts and agreements with your current certification bodies to understand whether mutual recognition is already covered or requires additional steps.
5. Inform product, quality and export teams about this update so they incorporate it into the planning of new launches in the transatlantic market.
6. Consult with a specialist advisor in foreign trade and product certification if you have doubts about how to apply mutual recognition to your specific case.

Official source

Consult complete regulation in official source — Decision 80/2026, OJ:L_202602170, EUR-Lex

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific decisions, consult a qualified professional. Source: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/./legal-content/AUTO/?uri=OJ:L_202602170