Short summary

The third edition of the EEPLIANT3 newsletter presents the most updated results of the product inspection and testing activities on:

• air-conditioners and comfort fans,
• tumble dryers,
• water heaters,
• ventilation units,
• light sources, and
• local space heaters,
• small number of televisions, washing machines, and wine coolers.

EEPLIANT3 (Energy Efficiency Compliant Products 2018) is the largest pan-EU Concerted Action on market surveillance to date aiming to achieve impacts in line with the objectives of the Horizon 2020 – Work Programme 2018-2020 Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy. The project is funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 framework with duration from June 2019 until November 2023.

The overall objective of this Concerted Action is to help deliver the intended economic and environment benefits of the framework Regulation for Energy Labelling 2017/1369 and Ecodesign Directive 2009/125 by increasing the rates of compliance with them.

It is important to consider that the results are preliminary and represent, for the most part, the targeted efforts undertaken by national authorities to identify suspicious/non-conforming products in their market.

Threats and opportunities

As reported by the newsletter, the overall degree of compliance with label and information standards for online shops is “depressingly low”.

Additionally, it is reported that in 79 of 97 air conditioners checked, the Declaration of Conformity was found to have errors, while laboratory tests on 20 split and 27 ducted air conditioners have been completed and no circumvention issues have been found.

Regarding ventilation units, 173 products were first screened online, of which 97 were selected for checks on their documentation. These checks revealed that information was either missing or was wrong in the majority of the cases. Checks on 64 websites of manufacturers also revealed significant levels of non-compliance.

Positions and actions

Eurovent fully supports a proper market surveillance to ensure a fair competition on the market. Eurovent has also developed the Recommendation 20-1 “Ecodesign and Energy Labelling compliance of bidirectional RVUs. Requirements for suppliers and effective monitoring by MSAs” to help manufacturers and market surveillance authorities.

Timeline

The final inspection, testing, and enforcement results are expected in late 2023.

The post Third Edition of the EEPLIANT3 Newsletter (GEN – 1506.00) appeared first on Eurovent.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published on 1 May 2023 a final rule adopting procedures for fans and blowers under the US Energy Conservation Program. Neither the errors nor the corrections in this document affect the substance of the rulemaking or any conclusions reached in support of the final rule. The May 2023 final rule established:  

• Test procedures for fans and blowers and incorporated the relevant industry test standards for measuring the fan electrical power and determining the fan energy index (‘FEI’) of fans and blowers other than air-circulating fans
• Test procedure for air circulating fans measuring the fan airflow in cubic feet per minute per watt of electric power input (‘CFM/Watt’)
• Supporting definitions
• Requirements for alternative efficiency determination methods
• Sampling requirements.

Since the publication of the May 2023 Final Rule, DOE identified several typographical and editorial errors that could create confusion when conducting the DOE test procedure. For this reason, DOE published a notice that corrects errors in the text without making substantive changes in the May 2023 Final Rule. The amendments addressed in this document are of a technical nature.

The Final Rule technical correction can be found in the attached GEN – 1505.01 and under:

https://www.regulations.gov/document/EERE-2021-BT-TP-0021-0047?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

The effective date of the Final Rule technical correction is 8 August 2023.

Recommended actions

Interested members are invited to get familiar with the Final Rule technical correction.

Related documents and links

All related documents and articles can be found in the respective sections in the right sidebar.

• GEN – 1505.01 – Final rule technical amendments

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The USA Department of Energy (DOE) proposes to amend the Federal test procedures for:

• Air-cooled commercial package air conditioners and heat pumps with a rated cooling capacity greater than or equal to 65,000 Btu/h (19 kW)
• Evaporatively-cooled commercial package air conditioners
• Water-cooled commercial package air conditioners

These amendments will incorporate by reference the latest versions of the applicable industry test standards.

Specifically, the DOE proposes: to amend the current test procedure for this equipment for measuring the current cooling and heating metrics—integrated energy efficiency ratio (IEER) and coefficient of performance (COP), respectively; and to establish a new test procedure for this equipment that would adopt two new metrics—integrated ventilation, economiser, and cooling (IVEC) and integrated ventilation and heating efficiency (IVHE).

Testing to the IVEC and IVHE metrics would not be required until such time as compliance is required with any amended energy conservation standard based on the new metrics.

Additionally, the DOE proposes to amend certain provisions of the DOE’s regulations related to representations and enforcement for the subject equipment.

Deadline and addresses for comments

The DOE welcomes written comments from the public on any subject within the scope of this document (including topics not raised in this proposal), as well as the submission of data and other relevant information.

The DOE will accept comments, data, and information regarding this notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) no later than 16 October 2023.

Addresses

Interested persons are encouraged to submit comments using the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov under docket number EERE–2023–BT–TP–0014.

Alternatively, interested persons may submit comments, identified by docket number EERE–2023–BT–TP–0014 and/or RIN 1904–AD93, by email at CUACHP2023TP0014@ee.doe.gov. Include the docket number EERE–2023–BT–TP–0014 and/or RIN 1904–AD93 in the subject line of the message.

Dedicated webinar

The DOE will hold a public meeting via webinar on Thursday, 07 September 2023, from 13:00-16:00h (local time). Click here to register for the webinar.

Foreign Nationals interested in participating in this webinar, must be screened by DOE Headquarters Security prior to being granted access. Please email regina.washington@ee.doe.gov to complete the necessary documentation at least two weeks prior to scheduled meeting date.

Proposed rule webpage

The complete proposed rule is available at the following link: https://www.regulations.gov/document/EERE-2023-BT-TP-0014-0003?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Recommended actions

Interested members are invited to assess the proposal and submit the comments via the proposed addresses and register to the webinar following the instructions.

Related documents and links

All related documents and articles can be found in the respective sections in the right sidebar.

• GEN – 1504.01 – Test Procedures for Commercial Package Air Conditioners and Heat Pumps
• Proposed rule webpage

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Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive

The Accounting Directive (2013/34/EU) as amended by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD – 2022/2464) requires large companies and listed small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), as well as parent companies of large groups, to include in a dedicated section of their management report the information necessary to understand the company’s impacts on sustainability matters, and the information necessary to understand how sustainability matters affect the company’s development, performance and position.

This information must be reported in accordance with European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), to be adopted by the Commission by means of delegated acts.

First set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards

The first delegated act has now been adopted by the European Commission, containing the first set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) that undertakings shall use to carry out their sustainability reporting in accordance with Articles 19a and 29a of the Accounting Directive. The ESRS in this first set are sector-agnostic, meaning that they apply to all undertakings under the scope of the CSRD regardless of which sector or sectors the undertaking operates in.

In the future years, the Commission is expected to adopt additional delegated acts for additional sets of standards. The CSRD requires the Commission to adopt by June 2024: sector-specific standards, proportionate standards for listed SMEs, and standards for non-EU companies.

The post Commission adopts sustainability reporting standards appeared first on Eurovent.

Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive

The Accounting Directive (2013/34/EU) as amended by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD – 2022/2464) requires large companies and listed small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), as well as parent companies of large groups, to include in a dedicated section of their management report the information necessary to understand the company’s impacts on sustainability matters, and the information necessary to understand how sustainability matters affect the company’s development, performance and position.

This information must be reported in accordance with European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), to be adopted by the Commission by means of delegated acts.

First set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards

The first delegated act has now been adopted by the European Commission, containing the first set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) that undertakings shall be used to carry out their sustainability reporting in accordance with Articles 19a and 29a of the Accounting Directive. The ESRS in this first set are sector-agnostic, meaning that they apply to all undertakings under the scope of the CSRD regardless of which sector or sectors the undertaking operates in.

In the future years, the Commission is expected to adopt additional delegated acts for additional sets of standards. The CSRD requires the Commission to adopt by June 2024: sector-specific standards, proportionate standards for listed SMEs, and standards for non-EU companies.

Related documents and links

All related documents and articles can be found in the respective sections in the right sidebar.

• GEN – 1503.01 – Commission Delegated Regulation EU 2023 5303 as regards sustainability reporting standards
• GEN – 1503.02 – Commission Delegated Regulation EU 2023 5303 as regards sustainability reporting standards – Annex I
• GEN – 1503.03 – Commission Delegated Regulation EU 2023 5303 as regards sustainability reporting standards – Annex II

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Harmonised standards and presumption of compliance

According to Article 7 of the Machinery Directive, a piece of machinery manufactured in conformity with a harmonised standard referenced in the OJEU is presumed to comply with essential healthy and safety requirements.

Publication of the references to harmonised standards

References to harmonised standards for the Machinery Directive were published in Communication 2018/C 092/01 and Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/436.

The European Commission has now seen fit to publish references to all the valid harmonised standards in a single act for the sake of clarity. These are all included in the Annex to the newly published Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/1586.

New Machinery Regulation

The 2006 Machinery Directive will be replaced by the Machinery Regulation, which was published in the Official Journal of the EU on 29 June 2023. The requirements in the Machinery Regulation will start to apply from 14 January 2027, although some requirements will apply earlier (see article 54). Until then, the provisions of the Machinery Directive remain applicable.

Related documents and links

All related documents and articles can be found in the respective sections in the right sidebar.

• GEN – 1502.01 – Commission Implementing Decision EU 2023 1586 on harmonised standards for machinery

The post Harmonised standards for Machinery Directive published (GEN – 1502.00) appeared first on Eurovent.

This comes as part of a wider package of smarter regulations designed to ease business burdens and help grow the economy by cutting barriers and red tape. Following extensive engagement with industry, British firms will be able to continue the use of CE marking alongside UKCA.

These updates apply to the 18 regulations that fall under the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), that are:

• Toys
• Pyrotechnics
• Recreational craft and personal watercraft
• Simple pressure vessels
• Electromagnetic compatibility
• Non-automatic weighing instruments
• Measuring instruments
• Measuring container bottles
• Lifts
• Equipment for potentially explosive atmospheres (ATEX)
• Radio equipment
• Pressure equipment
• Personal protective equipment (PPE)
• Gas appliances
• Machinery
• Equipment for use outdoors
• Aerosols
• Low voltage electrical equipment

Products with different rules

There are different rules for medical devices, construction products, cableways, transportable pressure equipment, unmanned aircraft systems, rail products, marine equipment and Ecodesign. The relevant departments covering these sectors either have communicated, or will communicate, more details in the future.

Recommended actions

Interested Members are invited to periodically monitor the official website of the UK Government for the most recent updates.

Related documents and links

All related documents and articles can be found in the respective sections in the right sidebar.

• GEN – 1437.00 – UKCA: UK will continue to recognise the CE marking for 2 years
• GEN – 1396.00 – Update UKCA
• GEN – 1335.00 – UKCA and CE marking
• GEN – 1309.00 – Update UKCA
• GEN – 1309.02 – UK ErP framework (103 pages) or link
• GEN – 1309.01 – UKCA implementation guidance November 2021 (13 pages) or link https://www.gov.uk/guidance/placing-manufactured-goods-on-the-market-in-great-britain#further-guidance
• GEN – 1290.00 – Update on UKCA
• https://www.gov.uk/government/news/businesses-to-be-given-uk-product-marking-flexibility
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-related-products-policy-framework
• Official UK Government website

The post UKCA: UK extends the recognition of the CE mark indefinitely (GEN – 1501.00) appeared first on Eurovent.

Draft Delegated Regulation establishing fire resistance classes open for feedback

The European Commission is proposing to repeal and replace Commission Decision 2000/367/EC with a new, updated Delegated Regulation on the fire resistance classes of construction products. A draft of this Delegated Regulation was published on 6 July 2023 and will remain open for feedback until 3 August 2023. Comments can be submitted via the Have Your Say portal.

Classes of performance are established in the Annex for a range products, among them:

• Non-mechanical fire barriers for ventilation ductwork (Table 4.6)
• Air transfer grilles (Table 4.13)
• Fire resisting ventilation ducts (Table 5.1)
• Fire dampers (Table 5.2)
• Single compartment smoke control ducts (Table 7.1)
• Multi-compartment fire resistant smoke control ducts (Table 7.2)
• Single compartment smoke control dampers (Table 7.3)
• Multi-compartment fire resistant smoke control dampers (Table 7.4)
• Powered smoke and heat control ventilators (fans), including connectors (Table 7.6)

Commission Decision 2000/367/EC

A European classification system regarding resistance to fire performance of construction products based upon European test methods was established over 20 years ago in Commission Decision 2000/367/EC. This system has been updated and amended many times over the years to take into account the latest technological developments in this field. It is now proposed to replace this Decision with the new Delegated Regulation described above.

Construction Products Regulation

The Construction Products Regulation (CPR) lays down harmonised rules for the marketing of construction products in the EU. The Regulation provides a common technical language to assess the performance of construction products. One of the technical characteristics covered by the CPR is resistance to fire. The draft Delegated Regulation described above would supplement the CPR with regards to this specific technical characteristic.

Recommended actions

Manufacturers of the products listed above are recommended to study the Annex and submit comments on the draft via the Have Your Say portal, if necessary. As always, you are recommended to share any feedback you intend to submit with Eurovent Secretariat as well.

Related documents and links

All related documents and articles can be found in the respective sections in the right sidebar.

• GEN – 1500.01 – Draft Delegated Regulation establishing fire resistance classes
• GEN – 1500.02 – Draft Delegated Regulation establishing fire resistance classes – Annex

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Main take-aways

The main take-aways of the adopted report are summarised below:

• Provisions to safeguard confidential business information
• Extra provisions for ensuring the competitiveness of SMEs, including financing and educational support
• Call for ensuring consistency with other EU legislation and avoidance of duplication of information and reporting
• Call for a more transparent and inclusive Ecodesign Forum in comparison with the current one
• The information in the Digital Product Passport (DPP) shall be decided on a case-by-case basis and be fully interoperable with other databases
• Environmental footprint quantification shall be based on the PEF/PEFCRs, or other scientifically validated and verifiable lifecycle-based standards and category rules
• Provisions for longer product lifespans via bans on premature obsolescence
• Economic operators will be obliged to produce reports on the destruction of unsold products, on the basis of which the Commission shall identify product for which a destruction ban shall be introduced (textiles, footwear and electrical and electronic equipment are already included in the report of the Parliament)

The Parliament also confirmed the priority products that the Commission has suggested for first ESPR vertical measures: iron, steel, aluminium, textiles (notably garments and footwear), furniture, tyres, detergents, paints, lubricants and chemicals.

Next steps

Once the final cleared up text of the European Parliament position will be published, the Parliament and Council of the EU will enter triologue negotiations, chaired by the European Commission to find a compromise on a final text that will become official EU law.

Related documents and links

All related documents and articles can be found in the respective sections in the right sidebar.

• GEN – 1499.01 – European Parliament adopted negotiating position on ESPR

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Regulation 626/2011 on the energy labelling of air conditioners

For single duct and double duct air conditioners, the hourly energy consumption in kWh per 60 minutes is according to the current wording ‘rounded up to the nearest integer’, instead of being ‘rounded to one decimal’. This makes the energy consumption information meaningless as the energy consumption is, in general, close to 1 kWh per 60 minutes.

By requiring that, for all air conditioners, efficiency and capacity are ‘rounded up’, it forces manufacturers to declare values that are higher than measured values.

The Commission therefore proposes to correct the wording on rounding under Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 626/2011.

Regulation 2019/2018 on the energy labelling of refrigerating appliances with a direct sales function

Concerning Regulation 2019/2018 which establishes the energy labelling requirements of refrigerating appliances with a direct sales function, Annex IX does not set a verification tolerance for temperatures, implying that the tolerance is zero. This concept needs to be made explicit, by specifying in Annex IV(2)(b) that the E daily (the energy consumption of the refrigerating appliance with a direct sales function over 24 hours) is measured according to the temperature conditions of Table 4 in the same Annex.

The Commission therefore proposes to correct Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/2018 on the above-mentioned issue.

Adopted texts

The adopted texts are available on the dedicated Have Your Say webpage.

Next steps

The Regulation is a delegated Regulation, therefore after the adoption of the Commission, there is a 3(±1) month period for objections by the Parliament and the Council before the final publication in the Official Journal.

Recommended actions

Involved members are invited to carefully assess the Regulation and the Annex.

Related documents and links

All related documents and articles can be found in the respective sections in the right sidebar.

• GEN – 1498.01 – Commission Delegated Regulation
• GEN – 1498.02 – Annex

The post Energy efficiency labelling’s minor changes (GEN – 1498.00) appeared first on Eurovent.

Plenary report

The report that is tabled for vote by the Plenary is the ENVI report adopted in June 2023. The main take-aways are outlined below:

• Class performances will be based on a common methodology for the product or product group.
• Environmental footprints shall be based on the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) method or other scientific methods developed by international organisations and widely tested in collaboration with different industry sectors and recognised by the Commission.
• ‘Substances of concern’ remain and the scope is expanded. Performance requirements shall also not restrict the presence of substances in products for reasons relating primarily to chemical safety, unless there is an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment.
• The supplier of a substance or a mixture or the supplier of an article shall provide free of charge all the relevant information to the economic operators to facilitate its compliance with the performance and information requirements set out in this Regulation.
• Delegated acts will specify the methodology to assess the reparability of a product, define the classes of performance to be displayed by the reparability score, and define the product categories to which the reparability score shall apply.
• Horizontal requirements will be allowed when two or more product groups display technical similarities allowing a product aspect to be improved based on a common requirement.
• Ecodesign measures will have to respect relevant international agreements and be backed by an expanded and specified impact assessments (IAs) that the Commission will have to perform.
• Information in the DPP will be included with specific consideration for confidential business information and will be available on a need-to-know basis.
• Actors shall introduce or update the info in the DPP, including where needed the creation of a new DPP that shall be linked to the DPP(s) of the original products, avoiding the duplication of information and reporting.
• DPPs shall be interoperable with existing product databases, such as the Substances of Concern In articles, as such or in complex objects (Products) (SCIP) database and the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling (EPREL) database.
• Self-regulation measures will still be allowed if the products are not included in the Ecodesign Working Plan.
• Manufacturers shall ensure that a product covered by a Delegated Act adopted pursuant to Article 4 is accompanied by instructions in digital format that enable consumers and other end-users to safely assemble, install, operate, store, maintain, repair and dispose of the product in a language that can be easily understood by consumers and other end-users, as determined by the Member State concerned.
• When a harmonised standard is adopted by a European standardisation organisation and the reference of a harmonised standard is published in the Official Journal of the European Union, the Commission, after an assessment, shall repeal the Implementing Acts or parts thereof containing the same Ecodesign requirements.

Next steps

The Plenary will vote on the ESPR report – thereby adopting its negotiating position – on 12 July 2023. The deadline for MEPs to table amendments is 5 July 2023.

The Council already adopted its negotiating position on 22 May 2023.

After the European Parliament has adopted its position, the interinstitutional negotiations will start.

Related documents and links

All related documents and articles can be found in the respective sections in the right sidebar.

• GEN – 1497.01 – Plenary draft report on ESPR

The post European Parliament to vote on ESPR report (GEN – 1497.00) appeared first on Eurovent.

WEEE Directive evaluation

The WEEE Directive sets collection, recycling and recovery targets for all types of electrical goods.

The Commission evaluation will assess the progress made under the Directive, whether its objectives have been met, and to what extent the Directive supports a circular economy and environmentally sound management of waste for electrical electronic equipment.

The public consultation is open until 22 September 2023 and can be accessed here.

The post Public consultation launched on WEEE Directive evaluation (GEN – 1496.00) appeared first on Eurovent.