The EU End of Life Vehicles Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2026/1738, entered into force on 13 August 2026, and it will not name your capacitors. It will still reach your approved vendor list. We counted Walsin’s automotive passives: 788 of 3,082 automotive-named MLCC rows are labelled without AEC-Q200, and 5 of our 1,125 stock lines are in an automotive series.
Venatech Limited, an authorised Walsin distributor in Hong Kong, wrote this for purchasing and component engineers at Slovenian vehicle and tier-1 suppliers who have just seen the new regulation and want to know what to ask their passive-component suppliers. The regulatory facts below come from sources we fetched on 20 October 2026, listed at the end. The counts come from the Walsin Technology (Walsin) export files, the 28 Walsin datasheets we hold and our stock snapshot dated 23 September 2026. Every part number is real.
What did the EU End of Life Vehicles Regulation change for a passive-component buyer?
Not the component specification. Regulation (EU) 2026/1738 on circularity requirements for vehicle design and end of life vehicles was published in the Official Journal on 24 July 2026, entered into force on 13 August 2026 and applies generally from 1 September 2028. It repeals the old End of Life Vehicles Directive, 2000/53/EC, according to the EUR-Lex record and the law-firm and trade write-ups we read.
Reported obligations sit with vehicle makers: recyclability and reusability targets, minimum recycled plastic, removable components, a producer register and a Digital Circularity Vehicle Passport from about 2032. One law firm, Noerr, also lists a restriction on substances such as lead under Article 5. None of the four write-ups we read mentions electronic components, resistors or capacitors.
That silence is the point. A tier-1 will push the burden down as material and substance declarations, and the first people asked will be the people who sell the parts.
| Date | Event | Source we fetched on 20 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 8 July 2026 | Regulation dated (adoption) | EUR-Lex record |
| 24 July 2026 | Published in the Official Journal | Noerr; Rematec |
| 13 August 2026 | Entered into force | CDX; Rematec |
| 1 September 2028 | General application | Noerr |
| 1 September 2032 | Digital Circularity Vehicle Passport for new vehicle types | Rematec |
Does the word automotive in a Walsin series name mean AEC-Q200?
No. Of 3,082 MLCC rows whose series name contains “Automotive”, 2,294 are labelled AEC-Q200 and 788 are labelled without it. We parsed all 24,026 rows of 00_ALL_MLCC_parts_combined.xlsx and counted by series text. The MT series has 2,176 rows and the ST soft-termination series has 118. The MG series has 788 rows, and its series name reads “Automotive Caps Without AEC-Q200 Certification”.
| Part | Series text in the export | Datasheet we hold | Match / mismatch to a buyer’s “automotive, AEC-Q200” line |
|---|---|---|---|
MT15N0R5C500 |
Automotive Caps Qualified to AEC-Q200 (MT series) | Yes, MT sheet, 29 pages | Match on the series label. Request the qualification report for this exact part |
ST18B473K500 |
Automotive Soft term Caps Qualified to AEC-Q200 (ST series) | Yes, ST sheet, 23 pages | Match on the series label |
MG15B101J160 |
Automotive Caps Without AEC-Q200 Certification (MG series) | Yes, MG sheet, 23 pages | Mismatch — the word automotive is there, AEC-Q200 is not |
MR04W1R00FTR |
Thick Film General Purpose Chip Resistor LF 100ppm (Automotive) | Yes, MR sheet | Match on label; the sheet names RoHS exemption 7C-I |
MF12E1R00FTL |
Thick Film Triple Power Surge Chip Resistor (Automotive) | No resistor sheet for this series | Mismatch on documentation — labelled automotive, no datasheet held |
WR01X10R0FDL |
Thick Film General Purpose Chip Resistor | Yes, WR sheet, 2016 issue | Mismatch — no automotive label |
The datasheets use their own words. The ST sheet states that the series is AEC-Q200 compliant, and the MT sheet says the series meets the AEC-Q200 requirement. We repeat those words and do not upgrade them to certified. Our posts on MT versus MG and what AEC-Q200 actually certifies go through the difference.
How many Walsin lines on the Hong Kong shelf are in an automotive series?
Five of 1,125. We joined every line in our stock snapshot dated 23 September 2026 to the export series text: 5 lines sit in an “(Automotive)” series, 0 MLCC lines have an MT, MG or ST prefix, and 176 lines match no export row on the exact part-number string. All five are chip resistors with the MF prefix.
| Stock line (23 September 2026) | Series text | Size | Match / mismatch |
|---|---|---|---|
MF12E1R00FTL |
Triple Power Surge (Automotive) | 1206 | Match to an automotive series |
MF12E2200FTL |
Triple Power Surge (Automotive) | 1206 | Match |
MF12E3300FTL |
Triple Power Surge (Automotive) | 1206 | Match |
MF12E3902FTL |
Triple Power Surge (Automotive) | 1206 | Match |
MF12P3303FTL |
High Power (Automotive) | 1206 | Match |
We have not seen this counted anywhere: the series with the most automotive rows in the export, MT at 2,176, has no line on the Hong Kong shelf, and the five automotive lines we do hold are a surge and a high-power resistor series. A Slovenian automotive build that needs MT-series MLCCs is a quotation, not a shelf pick. Check ready stock for the snapshot, and treat it as a snapshot, not a promise.
The 176 unmatched lines are a limit on this count. Some are formatting differences, such as spaces inside a code. We have not resolved them, so the true figure for automotive lines could be higher than 5.
What do the Walsin documents we hold say about RoHS and the new regulation?
Very little, and none of it about vehicles. Across the 28 Walsin datasheets we hold, the word RoHS appears 37 times in 27 files, the word “directive” appears in none, and no file cites the repealed 2000/53/EC or the new Regulation. We ran a text extraction on all 28 PDFs and counted. The one exception to silence on exemptions is the MR resistor sheet, which reads “RoHS 2 compliant with exemption 7C-I”.
The 24 MLCC sheets carry RoHS as a page-one claim. That is a claim, not a signed declaration. We also hold nothing on REACH: zero of 28 files mention it. A document-request list for Walsin exists on our side, and the items are on it, not delivered.
On timing, one compliance blog, GreenSoft, published a table in February 2026 listing exemption 7(c)-I with a stated expiry of 30 June 2027, shown as a renewal request pending, and 7(c)-V for lead in resistive glass. Treat that as a lead to check in EUR-Lex, not a date to plan on.
What should a Slovenian automotive buyer check before the first order?
Seven things, in this order. Read the series text, find the datasheet, ask for the qualification report, ask for the RoHS declaration, ask for the REACH statement, ask for the date code, and keep your own qualification. The first two take minutes with our export. The next three come from Walsin and take longer.
- Paste your BOM into the free cross-reference tool and read the series text of each Walsin result. Look for the word “Without”.
- Ask us for the datasheet that covers the exact part. We hold 28, 451 pages in all, and will send the one that applies.
- Request the AEC-Q200 qualification report for the exact part number. Walsin’s sheets say compliant.
- Ask for a RoHS declaration that names the directive and any exemption. It is not in the documents we hold.
- Ask for a REACH statement. It is not in the documents we hold either.
- Ask for the date code on the lot. Our snapshot holds a dated record only for part of the shelf.
- Qualify in your own circuit. Qualification stays with you.
Our products pages for MLCC and chip resistors list the series. Differences from your incumbent part are stated, not hidden.
The short version
Regulation (EU) 2026/1738 is in force and applies from 1 September 2028, and it is silent on passive components. Silent does not mean exempt from questions. In Walsin’s data, 788 of 3,082 automotive-named MLCC rows say without AEC-Q200, only 5 of 1,125 shelf lines are in an automotive series, and none of 28 datasheets cites a directive. Read the series text, not the word automotive.
Send us the automotive lines on your BOM and we will return the Walsin series text, the datasheet we hold and the gaps, for free. And a question back: when your tier-1 sends its next substance questionnaire, will you be the one explaining what “automotive” meant on the label?
Sources
All fetched on 20 October 2026. We paraphrase them and take no position beyond what they report. We hold no list of any manufacturer’s affected parts, and we do not assert a lifecycle status for any part; “end of life” in this post is the name of the regulation only, and one source title and link below spell it with hyphens.
- Noerr, “New EU End of Life Vehicles Regulation”: https://www.noerr.com/en/insights/new-eu-end-of-life-vehicles-regulation-a-challenge-for-the-automotive-industry
- EUR-Lex record, Regulation (EU) 2026/1738, title and metadata: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1738/oj/eng
- CDX regulatory news, “EU ELV Regulation officially published”, dated 27 July 2026: https://public.cdxsystem.com/web/cdx/w/eu-elv-regulation-officially-published-what-changed-since-council-adoption
- Rematec, “Regulation (EU) 2026/1738”, dated 25 August 2026: https://www.rematec.com/news/industry-players-and-markets/regulation-1738
- Circularise, “EU regulation update summer 2026”, dated 17 September 2026: https://www.circularise.com/blogs/what-did-you-miss-over-the-summer-six-regulatory-developments-shaping-product-traceability
- GreenSoft, “2026 EU RoHS exemption updates”, dated 9 February 2026: https://greensofttech.com/blog-2026-eu-rohs-exemption-updates/
Frequently asked questions
Does the EU End of Life Vehicles Regulation name resistors or capacitors?
Not in any source we read. Regulation (EU) 2026/1738 entered into force on 13 August 2026 and applies generally from 1 September 2028. The reported duties sit with vehicle makers. Ask your compliance team how your customer will pass substance questions down to component suppliers.
Does the word automotive in a Walsin series name mean AEC-Q200?
No. Of 3,082 MLCC rows with automotive in the series name, 788 belong to the MG series, named “Without AEC-Q200 Certification”. The other 2,294 are labelled as qualified to AEC-Q200. Read the full series text for every part you cross.
Are Walsin’s automotive parts AEC-Q200 certified?
Walsin’s datasheets say compliant, not certified. Request the qualification report for the exact part number, and qualify the part in your own circuit. Venatech makes no qualification claim of its own.
How many automotive-series lines does Venatech hold in Hong Kong?
Five of 1,125 lines in the snapshot dated 23 September 2026, all MF-prefix chip resistors. None is an MT, MG or ST MLCC. A further 176 lines match no export row, so the real figure could be higher. Stock moves, so ask.
Do the Walsin datasheets you hold include a REACH statement?
No. Zero of the 28 datasheets mention REACH, and none names a directive. Twenty-seven mention RoHS, 37 times in all. That is what the documents we hold say, not a statement about what Walsin has on file. Both items are on our request list.
Can Venatech tell me which exemption a Walsin part relies on?
Only for the MR resistor sheet, which names exemption 7C-I. The MLCC sheets we hold do not say. We will not guess. Ask Walsin in writing through us, and have your compliance team confirm the answer.