Energy Labelling: pragmatism wins over bureaucracy

The European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy adopted its position today on the reform of the energy labelling scheme for household appliances. The current system with A+++ and A++ at the top end has worn out as almost 90 percent of appliances are within the top range. Thus, the current system will switch back to A-G labels with realigned thresholds. "The new categories can be useful if they are designed in a flexible manner and if they are easy to implement. This is what we achieved today", said Herbert Reul MEP who is in charge of the new energy labelling scheme for household appliances for the EPP Group.

"The good news is that we have a clear division of labour between the manufacturers and the wholesale dealers with acceptable deadlines. I like this spirit of pragmatism. For example, we have refrained from changing the efficiency label for heating installations which was only introduced last year", said the EPP Group MEP.

"The fly in the ointment, however, is the database for household appliances. Weighing up the costs and benefits, I do not think we have achieved a good result. A huge database in order to enforce market surveillance is more than questionable. I regret that the other Groups have simply followed the European Commission’s proposal in their aim to collect as much data as possible. The good thing, however, is that the data will remain with the manufacturers. It would have been a risky idea in terms of securing the competitiveness and data security of the European industry if we set up a central database", concluded Reul.