The European Union physical agents (electromagnetic fields) directive: an update for the MRI community

Members of the MRI community in Europe will be all too aware of the problems posed by the European Union (EU) Physical Agents (Electromagnetic Fields) Directive (2004/ 40/EU) [1,2] and of the long-standing campaign to mitigate its impact on our clinical and research activities [3,4]. These efforts appear to have succeeded at last, and the 2004 legislation has been replaced by a new directive in which MRI is treated as a special case, although some important caveats remain. The aim of this commentary is to bring colleagues up to date with these developments and to explain what is likely to happen over the next few years as the issue finally draws to a conclusion.