Early warning notification
The early warning is meant to be fast, not complete. Within 24 hours of becoming aware, the manufacturer reports that a vulnerability is being actively exploited or that a severe incident has occurred. The details follow in the next stages.
The early warning notification (early warning) is the first of the three reporting stages under Article 14. It is due within 24 hours of awareness and contains only the basic information that a vulnerability is being actively exploited or that a severe incident has occurred.
Definition in the Regulation
Under Article 14(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) 2024/2847, the manufacturer submits an early warning notification "without undue delay and in any event within 24 hours" of becoming aware. For a vulnerability, it states that the vulnerability is being actively exploited and, where known, the Member States in which the product has been made available. For a severe incident, Article 14(4)(a) applies; here the early warning must also state whether the incident is suspected of being caused by unlawful or malicious acts. In paragraph 215, the Commission guidance C(2026) 5252 speaks of "limited information", which is supplemented in the following stages.
What it means for manufacturers
On ENISA's reporting platform, according to ENISA's guide of September 2026, the early warning requires seven mandatory fields plus the time of detection: notification type, title, summary, manufacturer name, Member States affected, product name and product version. A sign-off loop through senior management is not legally required and is organisationally risky, because the deadline must not be missed for want of a signature. The 24-hour and 72-hour deadlines both run from awareness, not one after the other. For microenterprises and small enterprises, Article 64(10) exempts a missed 24-hour deadline from fines; medium-sized enterprises do not have this exemption. The early warning has applied since 11 September 2026.
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- Awareness (start of the deadlines)
- Vulnerability notification (72-hour notification)
- Final report
- Single reporting platform (SRP)