Cadmium and Its Restrictions

Yes, but only outside the sectors REACH lists. REACH Annex XVII entry 23 bans cadmium plating of metal articles and components used in a defined set of equipment and machinery sectors. It also bans placing such plated articles on the EU market. Where no sector ban applies, cadmium plating is still allowed. The current consolidated REACH text, dated 11 May 2026, keeps the wording unchanged, and I found no new EU restriction proposal under way. Two separate laws limit cadmium further, plating included: RoHS for electrical and electronic equipment, and the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive for cars.

Approach: I read entry 23 in the consolidated REACH Regulation and in ECHA's restriction list. I also checked ECHA's restriction dossiers, the Annex XIV authorisation list, the consolidated RoHS Directive and the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive.

REACH Annex XVII entry 23 (paragraphs 5 to 7)

The entry defines "cadmium plating" as "any deposit or coating of metallic cadmium on a metallic surface" ^[16].

Paragraph 5: no plating, and no placing such articles on the market, "whatever their use or intended final purpose"

• Equipment and machinery for food production, agriculture, cooling and freezing, and printing and book-binding.
• Equipment and machinery for producing household goods, furniture, sanitary ware, and central heating and air-conditioning plant. Articles made in these sectors are covered too.

Paragraph 6: the same ban extends to cadmium-plated articles used in

• Machinery for producing paper and board, and textiles and clothing.
• Machinery for producing industrial handling equipment, road and agricultural vehicles (chapter 87), rolling stock (chapter 86) and vessels (chapter 89).

The source for both lists is ^[16].

Paragraph 7: exemptions (plating stays allowed here)

• Articles and components in the aeronautical, aerospace, mining, offshore and nuclear sectors where the application requires high safety standards.
• Safety devices in road and agricultural vehicles, rolling stock and vessels.
• Electrical contacts in any sector, where cadmium is needed for the reliability of the apparatus.

The same exemptions appear in ECHA's published entry ^[16][17][18].

Status: ECHA's restriction dossiers for cadmium and its compounds show only cases already decided by the Commission under entry 23, with no open proposal ^[19][20]. I found no cadmium entry on the Annex XIV authorisation list, so no authorisation is needed for uses that remain allowed.

Electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS 2011/65/EU)

The REACH exemption for electrical contacts does not override RoHS. In electrical and electronic equipment, Annex II caps cadmium at 0.01% ^[2]. In the consolidated text, the RoHS exemptions for cadmium in electrical contacts all have expiry dates that have now passed:

• Entry 8(b): categories 8, 9 and 11, expiring between 21 July 2021 and 21 July 2024 ^[21].
• Entry 8(b)-I: listed breakers, switches and thermal controls in categories 1 to 7 and 10, expired 21 July 2021 ^[22].

Vehicles (End-of-Life Vehicles Directive 2000/53/EC)

Materials and components of vehicles placed on the market after 1 July 2003 must not contain cadmium unless a case is listed in Annex II ^[23]. Up to 0.01% by weight in homogeneous material is tolerated ^[24]. The only cadmium exemption in Annex II covers batteries for electric vehicles, as spare parts for vehicles placed on the market before 31 December 2008 ^[25]. So the REACH exemption for vehicle safety devices does not, on its own, let plated parts into cars covered by this Directive.

Bottom line by use

Use	Status in the EU
Equipment in the paragraph 5 and 6 sectors (food, agriculture, household goods, furniture, vehicles and similar)	Banned under REACH entry 23
Aerospace, mining, offshore and nuclear (high-safety); safety devices in vehicles, rolling stock and vessels; reliability-critical electrical contacts	Allowed under REACH, but RoHS and the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive apply where the product falls under them
Other metal articles not in the listed sectors and outside RoHS and the vehicles Directive	Not restricted by entry 23

I can check the GB position under UK REACH next if useful.

In the EU, how much cadmium chocolate may contain depends on its cocoa solids. The limits are 0.10 mg/kg for milk chocolate under 30% dry cocoa solids, 0.30 mg/kg for chocolate under 50% (and milk chocolate at 30% or more), 0.80 mg/kg for chocolate at 50% or more, and 0.60 mg/kg for cocoa powder sold to consumers. These are set in Annex I, entry 3.2.15, of Regulation (EU) 2023/915 ^[26]. Great Britain has the same four figures. Switzerland and Brazil set different bands.

Approach: I read the current consolidated EU contaminants Regulation 2023/915, the Swiss contaminants ordinance (SR 817.022.15), ANVISA's limits for Brazil, Health Canada's maximum levels and India's FSSAI contaminant regulations. For GB I opened the assimilated Regulation 1881/2006 on legislation.gov.uk.

EU: Regulation (EU) 2023/915, Annex I, section 3.2 (cadmium)

Consolidated version 02023R0915-20260819:

Entry	Product	Max level (mg/kg)
3.2.15.1	Milk chocolate, < 30% total dry cocoa solids	0.10
3.2.15.2	Chocolate, < 50% total dry cocoa solids; milk chocolate, ≥ 30%	0.30
3.2.15.3	Chocolate, ≥ 50% total dry cocoa solids	0.80
3.2.15.4	Cocoa powder sold to the final consumer, or used as an ingredient in sweetened cocoa powder or powdered chocolate (drinking chocolate) sold to the final consumer	0.60

All four rows: ^[26]

• Which products are covered: footnote 14 limits "cocoa and chocolate products" to the products defined in points 2, 3 and 4 of Part A of Annex I to Directive 2000/36/EC ^[27].
• No band above 70%: the EU has no separate band for very dark chocolate, so 0.80 mg/kg covers everything from 50% to 100%.
• Other foods: the same section sets cadmium limits for many other foods, for example:
  • cereals 0.10 mg/kg, and rice 0.15 mg/kg ^[26];
  • baby food and processed cereal-based food 0.040 mg/kg ^[28];
  • food supplements 1.0 mg/kg, or 3.0 mg/kg where they are mostly seaweed or dried bivalve molluscs ^[28].

Other jurisdictions

Jurisdiction	Chocolate / cocoa category	Cd max (mg/kg)
Great Britain (assimilated Reg. 1881/2006, entry 3.2.7)	Same four categories and figures as the EU: 0.10, 0.30, 0.80 and 0.60, applying from 1 January 2019 (legislation.gov.uk; latest revised version shown there is dated 28 September 2020)	as EU
Switzerland (SR 817.022.15, version 8 September 2025)	Milk chocolate, < 30% total cocoa dry matter	0.1
	Chocolate, ≥ 30% and < 50%	0.3
	Chocolate, ≥ 50% and < 70%	0.8
	Chocolate, ≥ 70%	0.9
	Cocoa powder (100% cocoa dry matter) for consumers or as an ingredient in sweetened cocoa powder	0.6
Brazil (ANVISA, data dated 12 Oct 2026)	Chocolates and cocoa-based products, < 40% cocoa	0.20
	Chocolates and cocoa-based products, > 40% cocoa	0.30
	Cocoa mass (pasta de cacau)	0.30

Sources for the table:

• Switzerland: all five rows come from the ordinance's metals table, whose column heading is "Höchstgehalt (mg/kg)" ^[29].
• Brazil: < 40% row ^[30]; > 40% row ^[31]; cocoa mass row ^[32].

What the other searches showed:

• Canada: I found no cadmium entries in Health Canada's maximum levels.
• India: FSSAI's cadmium limits have no chocolate or cocoa category.
• Codex: CXS 193 has limits for cadmium in chocolate, set in several cocoa-solids bands, but I couldn't open the current text of the standard on the Codex site. So I can't confirm the figures.

I can also pull the lead limits for chocolate and cocoa next, or the Swiss lead and nickel entries.