08.45 Registration and refreshments 
Chair Dr Chris Robertson
Head of Product Regulatory Compliance, RINA

09.00 Welcome and scene setting 
Dr Chris Robertson 
Head of Product Regulatory Compliance, RINA  

- Welcome! 
- The year in review

09.20 OECD’s work on PFAS 
Dr Eeva Leinala 
Principal Administrator for Programmes on Risk Management, Good Laboratory Practices and Mutual Acceptance of Data, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 

- Sharing of risk management approaches between countries 
- Supporting a shift to safer alternatives 
- Development of information – terminology, fact sheets, synthesis reports – to support management of PFAS. 

09.50 Global PFAS impacts 
Emily Tyrwhitt Jones  
Principal Regulatory Consultant, RINA 

- EU’s global per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) restriction: impact, derogations and actions required 
- US PFAS obligations 
- How to respond as a business. 

10.20 Panel discussion 

10.30 Refreshments 
 Weronika Dorociak 
Programme Manager - Sustainability, techUK 

11.00 Review of the status of lead authorisation 
Lisa Allen 
Senior Regulatory Affairs Manager, International Lead Association (ILA) 

- Current status of the REACH authorisation process 
- Potential regulatory pathways 
- Potential impacts 
- How to respond. 

11.30 The EU’s Lead REACH authorisation: what could it mean for me?  
Cathy Phillips 
Principal Regulatory Consultant, RINA 

- The possible interaction with RoHS and lead in electrical and electronic equipment 
- Lead in alloys where it is a deliberate additive such as in free-flowing steels 
- Metals where lead is an impurity – for example what it might mean for galvanising etc. 
- Safety uses of lead such as the impacts on radiation shielding and non-destructive engineering techniques.  

12.00 JOINT PRESENTATION – Paul Hallett and Peter Alcock

RoHS regulations in the UK – A policy update 
Paul Hallett 
Policy Lead – RoHS, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) 

- In Great Britain 
- In Northern Ireland 
- Fees and charging. 

OPSS/Defra/RINA collaborative development of establishing a serious risk to the environment by incorporating risk assessment  
Peter Alcock 
RoHS Enforcement Team Lead, Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) 

- What constitutes a “Serious Risk to the Environment”? 
- Establishing the potential harm from ten different substances
- Correlating the data to 1,000 disposal/landfill sites
- Evidencing and quantifying an effect on the environment 
- OPSS Risk Assessment – “PRISM”. 

12.40 Panel discussion

12.50 Lunch 

Chair Adam Fletcher  
Chairman, Electronic Components Supply Network (ECSN) 

13.50 RoHS Directive exemptions and their business impact
Maitheya Riva 
Regulatory Consultant, RINA 

- EU RoHS exemption impacts to business 
- Regulatory divergence between EU and UK RoHS 
- Future implications of RoHS and its regulatory updates. 

14.20 Why overcoming the challenges and achieving environmental materials compliance is pivotal to a good sustainability performance and the success of a global engineering company
Andrew Sheward 
Process Automation, Measurement Analytics  (PAMA) - Global Division Health Safety Environment & Sustainability, ABB  

- Sustainability performance
- Embracing environmental material compliance within a maturing sustainability culture
- The challenges of a global manufacturing environment and a global market when implementing globally diverse legislation
- Tips on how an organisation can turn challenges into opportunities for many stakeholders.

14.50 What you need to know about the new EU General Product Safety Regulations
Kelly Bugiera 
Senior Regulatory Compliance Specialist, Compliance & Risks 

- Background – why was this revision to GPSD, (EU) 2023/988, needed? 
- What does this new Regulation apply to? 
- What are some changes to general product safety requirements in the EU?
- What does this mean to industry? 
- How will the UK handle general product safety? 

15.20 Panel discussion 

15.30 Refreshments 
Chair Louise Forrest  
Kennedys Law

16.00 EU Machinery – From a directive to a regulation 
Liz Kimber 
Principal Regulatory Consultant, RINA 

- Current status of the legislation 
- Reason for the change 
- What the new requirements are and the potential implications for economic operators 
- Next steps. 

16.30 Artificial intelligence and product safety: Technical and legal perspectives 
James Eager 
Associate Partner, Centre for Strategy & Evaluation Services (CSES) 

- Overview of “Study on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Product Safety”
- Technical and legal findings of research
- Subsequent development in the UK and EU industrial product policy and legislative contexts.

17.00 PRISM: The new product safety risk assessment methodology 
Katherine Forrest 
Risk Manager, Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) 

-Introduction to the methodology, the basis for replacing Rapex for GB product safety assessors and the key differences between Rapex and PRISM 
- An overview of how PRISM is performing almost one year since it launched 
- A look ahead at the future of PRISM: Iterations for product/hazard specific matters, and improvements V1 of PRISM. 

17.30 Panel discussion

17.40 Close 

19.15 Drinks reception 

20.00 Conference dinner 

08.45 Registration and refreshments 
Chair Steve Pearson 
Principal Consultant, Safeguard Engineering Limited (SEL) 

09.00 Acquisition and defence maritime regulation 
Penny Sykes 
Head of Regulations, Defence Maritime Regulator (DMR) 

- Who are the Defence Safety Authority (DSA) and the Defence Maritime Regulator (DMR)
- What do we do and how do we do it?
- Why do we care about product compliance?
- What are our current areas of concern? 

09.40 Recommended improvements for accreditation and market surveillance 
Andy Evans 
Technical Director, GAMBICA 

- The amended legislative framework 
- Electronic labelling & the Digital Product Passport 
- Mutual Recognition Agreement. 

10.10 The EU’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) (r)evolution: Keep up! 
Peter Sellar  
Partner EU Regulatory Law, Fieldfisher  

- Provide an understanding of the new approach that the EU is taking to environmental regulations 
- Regulatory overview of the various EU proposals that have recently been made regarding the environmental aspects of E&E products (ecodesign, batteries, Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), Green claims) as well as the social (deforestation, forced labour) and governmental (reporting) aspects 
- Message on what industry can do to keep up with these groundbreaking regulatory changes.

10.40 Panel discussion

10.50 Refreshments 
Chair Paul Waide 
Director, Waide Strategic Efficient Europe Ltd

11.20 UK ecodesign and energy labelling policy 
Arthur Montagu
Head of Energy-related Products Policy, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero

- UK policy objectives and wider considerations for manufacturers
- Products currently under consideration for new and/or revised requirements and what these might entail 
- Impacts and how industry can prepare.

11.50 Online energy labelling in the UK and EU 
Nicole Kearney 
Director – CLASP Europe

- Impact of online labelling on policy outcomes, given increasing rate of online purchases 
- Findings from online labelling compliance studies in the UK and EU  
- What government and industry can do to support the green transition through online sales, empowering consumers to make efficient product purchases.

12.20 What can repair cafés teach us about circular design in our products? 
Professor Martin Charter  
Director, The Centre for Sustainable Design® (CfSD), Research & Innovation, Business School for the Creative Industries, University for the Creative Arts  

- The UK repair café network, learning from the data, benefits (social, material, financial)
- Progress on legislation and standardisation on circularity UK and EU (material efficiency, reparability, product circularity data sheets, etc.) 
- Learning points for product manufacturers. 

12.50 Panel discussion 

13.00 Lunch 

Chair Dr Chris Robertson 
Head of Product Regulatory Compliance, RINA 

14.00 Critical minerals and developing responsible supply chains?
Jeff Townsend 
Founder, Critical Minerals Association 

14.30 A look at the EU’s new batteries regulation 
Dr Alex Martin 
Principal Regulatory Consultant, RINA 

- Why has a new EU law been adopted? 
- The new requirements, powers and responsibilities that are now enshrined in EU   
law 
- How the law regulates industrial and electric vehicle batteries differently to  
portable batteries 
- Conformity assessment and economic operator obligations 
- Portable battery supply and use requirements in summary. 

15.00 WEEE regulations: An overview of future reforms 
Matthew Stocks 
Senior Policy Adviser – WEEE Regulations, Product Regulation and Producer Responsibility Team, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra)  

- Wider policy context 
- The case for change 
- Government proposals for reform and timelines. 

15.30 UK Packaging Producer Responsibility Reform: an overview of past, present and future policy 
George Atkinson 
Head of Policy, Valpak  

-  A brief overview of current packaging producer responsibility rules in the UK 
- Core aspects of the government and devolved administrations’ plans for introducing new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
- A look ahead to what is still to come for the reforms and how it’ll impact those affected
- How Valpak are assisting affected businesses in complying with the regulatory changes and making their packaging portfolios leaner and greener.

16.00 Panel discussion

16.10 Close and refreshments