On 15 July 2015, the Commission presented a package of legislative and non-legislative actions, which included a legislative proposal on a new regulation on energy efficiency labelling. This proposed an A to G scale of energy efficiency, together with a digital product database and an automatic mechanism in order to rescale future labels on the basis of objectively defined criteria.

Ministers adopted a general approach on this proposal at the Energy Council meeting on 26 November 2015. Only Bulgaria objected to the general approach. The Council supported a simplification of the labelling scheme (i.e., removal of subclasses A+, A++ and A+++), with an additional reduced scale of A to E or A to C (where possible), as well as the creation of an online database that would serve as a market surveillance tool. The Council argued that 'a newly rescaled label should have one empty top class to encourage technological progress, provide for regulatory stability and limit the frequency of rescaling' (Commission had proposed two empty classes). The Council made it clear that 'labels that mimic the energy label should not be allowed to be used for energy-related products covered by labelling requirements', but 'as long as such products are not covered by other energy related requirements at Union level, Member States should be able to maintain or introduce new national schemes for the labelling of products'. In addition, ministers supported the use of implementing acts in the regulation rather than delegated acts (as Commission proposed).

On 6 July 2016, the European Parliament adopted amendments in plenary to the Commission proposal. These were based on a committee report drafted by the ITRE rapporteur - Dario Tamburrano, EFDD, Italy - and a series of amendments voted in the committee. However, the vote on the draft legislative resolution on the proposal was postponed and referred back to the ITRE committee, which thereafter received a mandate to enter inter-institutional negotiations (trilogues).

Parliament proposed that the Commission should introduce rescaled labels for existing product groups within five years of the entry into force of the regulation (Council position mentioned different timeframes for different product groups). The Commission should conduct a thorough preparatory study before any rescaling of products; a call echoed by the Council. According to the Parliament amendments, a review should be planned only when the A class contains 25 % of relevant products sold in the EU or when the top two classes – A and B – contain 50 % of relevant products. The Parliament specified that all labels need to be clear and legible, containing information on the energy efficiency class of the product model, including their absolute consumption in kWh. Other amendments sought to strengthen market surveillance by proposing stronger product monitoring, including regular controls and physical product testing. The Parliament also supported the Commission proposal to use delegated acts to introduce and rescale labels.

On 14 July 2016, inter-institutional negotiations began with a view to reaching a consensus. After a series of trilogue meetings in September and October 2016 a provisional agreement was found on most non-core political issues including: scope, definitions, obligations of market actors and Member States, market surveillance and harmonised standards. The remaining issues of contention were the (i) rescaling of labels (including the timetable) and criteria for emptying top classes (ii) confidentiality and security of data in the product database (iii) sole use of delegated acts (which the Parliament supported) rather than accept a combination of delegated and implemented acts (that Council would accept).

On 21 March 2017 EU co-legislators informally agreed on the remaining points of contention. Regarding rescaling, fixed deadlines will apply ‘for the first rescaling of all labelled products, according to three product categories’, with a staggered timeframe depending on the product group. Further rescaling should happen once all A+ labels have disappeared from the market and the A class contains 30 % of products sold in the EU or when 50 % of products on the market fall into the two top classes (A and B). During such a rescaling, the two top classes should be emptied and should aim for a ten-year validity period of the label. The product database should be fully operational from 1 January 2019. National market surveillance authorities will be monitoring that labelling requirements are respected. Provisions on the confidentiality and security of sensitive commercial data in the product database are outlined. Compromise was also found on the application of delegated and implementing acts: For the rescaling procedure delegated acts will be used whereas for the product database and the safeguard procedure implementing acts would largely apply. Parliament’s demand to indicate on the labels if a product is ‘energy smart’ (defined as products that are ‘able to change and optimise their consumption patterns automatically’) was included in the text. A possibility of compensation to consumers who bought a product whose energy performance appeared to be inferior to the one indicated on the label - another demand of Parliament - was not included in the regulation but will be assessed by the Commission in future reviews of the regulation.

On 13 June 2017, the Parliament formally adopted the text agreed in trilogue negotiations (voted by 535 to 46, with 79 abstentions). On 26 June 2017 the Council formally adopted the same text. EU Regulation 2017/1369 of 4 July 2017 entered into force on 1 August 2017.

References:

• EP Legislative Observatory, Procedure file of Regulation on energy efficiency labelling, 2015/0149(COD)
• Council, Clearer energy labelling: improved energy efficiency, Press release, 21 March 2017
• European Parliament, A to G energy scale for home appliances: EP/Council strike informal deal, Press release, 21 March 2017
• Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 of 4 July 2017 setting a framework for energy labelling and repealing Directive 2010/30/EU

Further reading:

• European Parliament, EPRS, Framework for energy efficiency labelling, EU Legislation in Progress, Briefing, July 2017 (final version).

Author: Alex Wilson, Members' Research Service, legislative-train@europarl.europa.eu

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