Navigating the EU’s new Radio Equipment Directive: how Raspberry Pi provides an industrial advantage

For manufacturers and system integrators operating in the European market, regulatory compliance is a business-critical process. With the new cybersecurity requirements of the EU's Radio Equipment Directive Delegated Act (RED-DA) now mandatory since 1 August 2025, understanding and meeting these standards is more important than ever. The good news is that for companies building industrial IoT, automation, or connected control systems, the Raspberry Pi platform provides a significant head start.

What is RED-DA, and what are its cybersecurity requirements?

The EU Radio Equipment Directive (2014/53/EU) ensures that all radio-enabled equipment sold in Europe meets essential requirements for safety, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), and spectrum usage, and its provisions will be familiar to many manufacturers. However, a recent Delegated Act (2022/30/EU) expands this framework. It includes three new essential cybersecurity requirements for all internet-connected radio equipment, including industrial devices:

1. Network protection (Article 3(3)(d)): Devices must be designed such that they don't harm the network or misuse network resources. This includes protection against cyberattacks that could degrade service quality or cause network instability.
2. Data privacy (Article 3(3)(e)): Equipment that processes personal or sensitive data must incorporate safeguards to protect the user's privacy. For industrial systems, this extends to sensitive operational data.
3. Protection against fraud (Article 3(3)(f)): Devices enabling financial transactions or other value transfers must include features to prevent fraud.

These requirements mandate a secure-by-design approach. They require robust technical documentation, risk assessments, and a formal Declaration of Conformity (DoC) for market entry.

Raspberry Pi: a compliant and cost-effective foundation

Raspberry Pi platforms are becoming a standard in industrial design. Their performance, versatility, value, and long-term availability provide the perfect solution to industrial integrators. Crucially for businesses, Raspberry Pi computers are already fully compliant with the core elements of the Radio Equipment Directive.

This conformity is part of our wider Global Market Access (GMA) support, designed to remove as much compliance hassle as possible from our customers.

This existing compliance provides a major advantage for industrial product development:

• Accelerated time-to-market: By starting with a pre-certified, RED-compliant core, manufacturers can significantly reduce the time and cost associated with their own product's regulatory and certification processes. This allows engineering teams to focus on their unique application, rather than on fundamental compliance.
• Robust foundation: The core Raspberry Pi hardware and its official operating system, Raspberry Pi OS, are developed with security in mind. They provide a strong, well supported foundation for implementing the additional security measures required for the new directive, such as secure boot processes, cryptographic signing for over-the-air updates, and robust access controls.
• Industrial ecosystem: The Raspberry Pi ecosystem is supported by a wide range of industrial partners. Their products are specifically designed to meet the rigorous demands of industrial applications, often with their own industry-specific certifications that complement the core RED compliance that Raspberry Pi offers.

A clear path to full compliance

While Raspberry Pi devices provide a compliant base, it's essential for manufacturers to remember that they are ultimately responsible for the compliance of their final product. This requires a comprehensive strategy that includes:

• Security by design: Integrating cybersecurity from the very beginning of the product lifecycle.
• Lifecycle management: Establishing a plan for long-term security updates and vulnerability management.
• Technical documentation: Maintaining detailed records of the product's design, security features, and conformity assessment.

By leveraging the pre-existing regulatory compliance of the Raspberry Pi platform, companies can build secure, reliable, and market-ready products with greater efficiency and confidence, ensuring they meet the evolving demands of both customers and regulators. And to help our customers go to market in jurisdictions that don't recognise modular certification or that restrict its application, our experienced in-house GMA team can manage the approval process from end to end.

Find support or get in touch

Raspberry Pi compliance documentation can be found in our Product Information Portal.

To find out more, please contact our GMA team: [email protected]. Technical support is available via [email protected].