The period the campaign reopens - 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2026 - is long, and that length is the point. Non-enrolment in EPF is rarely a single decision; it accumulates quietly across contract workers, seasonal hires, workers paid partly in cash and small establishments that cross the twenty-employee threshold without registering. Each year that passes makes voluntary correction dearer, because arrears compound. EPFO has used enrolment campaigns before as a way of clearing that accumulated backlog in one pass rather than pursuing it establishment by establishment through inspection and prosecution, which is slow and adversarial and often ends in litigation rather than in a worker actually acquiring an account. What EEC 2026 adds is that the process is fully digital: the declaration, the Face Authentication-based UAN through UMANG and the remittance through ECR all run online, which removes the office visit that made earlier compliance drives cumbersome for small employers. The condition attached is worth noting for its logic - only employees alive and still on the rolls at the date of declaration can be enrolled, so the campaign creates live accounts going forward rather than settling historical claims.