Since 1 January 2026, European law has prohibited the putting into operation of new medium-voltage switchgear up to 24 kV that relies on fluorinated greenhouse gases for insulation or breaking, unless a specific derogation applies. Further dates follow in 2028, 2030 and 2032 for higher voltage and current classes, and from 2035 the sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆) used to maintain the installed base must, as a rule, be recycled or reclaimed. None of these rules requires an operator to remove equipment that already works. What they change is the set of options available when a unit fails, reaches the end of its life or must be extended to connect new load. For a grid operator restoring a substation that feeds an industrial plant, a logistics hub or an installation relevant to Europe’s rearmament, the question is therefore not whether an SF₆-free product exists in a manufacturer’s catalogue. It is how long it takes, and on whose decisions it depends, to turn an available product into equipment that is lawful on the day it enters service, compatible with what is already installed, worked on by certified people, tested and formally accepted by the network operator. That interval, rather than the existence of alternatives in the abstract, is the variable that determines whether the new regime affects the continuity of strategic infrastructure.