diff --git a/howto.md b/howto.md
index 27b7fe97..aeabd453 100644
--- a/howto.md
+++ b/howto.md
@@ -7,10 +7,13 @@ permalink: /howto/
 If your project does not meet the following criteria, your pull request **will** be rejected:
  
  - Publicly available source code repository...
- - Containing schematics or source code for a device with a USB interface...
- - Licensed under a recognized open source or open source hardware license. Your source code repository must contain a LICENSE file attesting to this fact.
+ - Containing modifiable PCB design files (schematics and layout) and/or source code for a device with a USB interface...
+ - Licensed under a recognized open source or open source hardware license. (See the [Open Source Hardware Definition](https://oshwa.org/resources/open-source-hardware-definition/) for details.) Your source code repository must contain a LICENSE file attesting to this fact.
 
-If your project involves both hardware and software, both need to be licensed under recognised OSS and OSHW licenses. If your project involves only one or the other, we may ask for further justification as to why you need a PID associated with your software project / development board instead of allowing end-users to request their own.
+If your project involves both hardware and software, both need to be licensed under recognised OSS and OSHW licenses. If your project involves only one or the other, we may ask for further justification as to why you need a PID associated with your software project / development board instead of allowing end-users to request their own. 
+
+> [!NOTE]
+> Starting in 2026, licenses must allow commerial use. This change is to align pid.codes policy with the Open Source Hardware Definition. See the [Open Source Hardware FAQ](https://oshwa.org/resources/open-source-hardware-faq/#:~:text=Why%20aren%E2%80%99t%20non%2Dcommercial%20restrictions%20compatible%20with%20open%20source%20hardware) for their reasoning.
 
 If your project doesn't yet meet these requirements, please hold off requesting a PID until it does. Don't worry, we're not likely to run out of PIDs soon.