EU Consults Over Lead in Fishing Tackle under REACH

SafeGuardSHardgoodsSep 30, 2025

SG 145/25

The European Union (EU) has informed the World Trade Organization (WTO) of its draft regulation to restrict lead in fishing sinkers and lures.

On September 17, 2025, the WTO announced a draft regulation from the EU on the use of lead in fishing sinkers and lures. This draft law proposes amendments to entry 63 of Annex XVII of Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006 ‘’Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals’, as it related to lead and its compounds (entry 63 to Annex XVII of REACH).

Highlights of the draft regulation are summarized in Table 1.

Item	Scope	Requirement	Effective date
1	Fishing sinkers and lures weighing no more than 50 g, and not covered by item 3	< 1% lead¹	Three years after date of entry into force (EIF)³
2	Fishing sinkers and lures weighing more than 50 g, and not covered by item 3	< 1% lead¹	Five years after date of EIF³
3	Fishing wires and drop-in sinkers	< 1% lead¹	Six months after date of EIF
4	Fishing sinkers and lures weighing no more than 50 g, and not covered by item 6	< 1% lead²	Three years after date of EIF³
5	Fishing sinkers and lures weighing more than 50 g, and not covered by item 6	< 1% lead²	Five years after date of EIF³
6	Fishing wires and drop-in sinkers	< 1% lead²	Six months after date of EIF
7	Retailers of fishing sinkers and lures of any dimension or weight	Requires warning statement if ≥ 1% lead	Three years after date of EIF for sinkers and lures weighing no more than 50g Five years after date of EIF for those weighing more than 50g Six months after date of EIF for drop-in wires and drop-in sinkers
¹Use during fishing ²Place on the market ³Exemptions: a) lures made of copper alloys containing less than 3% lead; b) split shots weighing no more than 0.06g in spill-proof and child-resistant packaging

Table 1

Additionally, this draft regulation limits lead content to less than 1% in gunshots, with several exemptions and time-limited derogations.

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