ECO-DESIGN of ENERGY-USING PRODUCTS
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ECO-DESIGN of ENERGY-USING PRODUCTS |
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Overview
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Environmentally-friendly design of Energy-using Products:
By encouraging manufacturers to design products with the environmental impacts in mind throughout their entire life cycle, the Commission implements an Integrated Product Policy (IPP) and accelerates the move towards improving the environmental performance of energy-using products. After adoption of the Directive by the Council and the European Parliament, the Commission, assisted by a Committee, will be able to enact implementing measures on specific products and environmental aspects (such as energy consumption, waste generation, water consumption, extension of lifetime) after impact assessment and broad consultation of interested parties. There are no obligations for all energy-using products, but only for those meeting criteria such as important environmental impact and volume of trade in the internal market and clear potential for improvement, for example where market forces fail to make progress in the absence of a legal requirement. This policy initiative is expected to increase
the effectiveness and synergies of other EU legislative acts and
initiatives concerning environmental aspects of products. Examples of
related measures are the Directives regulating the management of
waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and the use of certain hazardous substances used
in this equipment (RoHS) as well as Directives related to the energy
efficiency of appliances such as the
Energy labelling Directive (or download as PDF here
Products which have been awarded the Eco-label will be considered as compliant with the implementing measures in so far as the Eco-label meets the requirements of the implementing measure. Although the EMAS registration on its own does not grant presumption of compliance to the products manufactured by the enterprise, enterprises which have an EMAS registration, which includes product design, may use directly their environmental management system for demonstrating that their product complies with the applicable implementing measure. The text of the EuP Directive 2005/32/EC, as adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in July 2005 and published in the Official Journal of the European Union (L 121 22.7.2005), is available here. See also the Press Release on the adoption of the Directive for environmentally friendly design of energy-using products (13/04/2005).
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Latest news
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The
Directive 2005/32/EC on the eco-design of Energy-using Products (EuP),
such as electrical and electronic devices or heating equipment, provides coherent EU-wide rules for eco-design and ensure that disparities
among national regulations do not become obstacles to intra-EU trade.
The Directive does not introduce directly binding requirements for
specific products, but does define conditions and criteria for
setting, through subsequent implementing measures, requirements
regarding environmentally relevant product characteristics and allows them to be improved quickly and
efficiently. Products that fulfil the requirements will benefit both
businesses and consumers, by facilitating free movement of goods
across the EU and by enhancing product quality and environmental
protection. The Directive constitutes a breakthrough in EU product
policy and introduces many innovative elements together with concrete
application of the principles of the "better regulation" package.
