. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/273 
8 May 2009  
 (09-2270) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
  
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):     
2. Agency responsible:  European Commission 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or auth ority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above :   
European Commission 
EC-TBT Enquiry Point Fax:  +(32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu Website: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/
  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [ X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:   
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Household refrigerating 
appliances. 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Draft Commission 
Regulation implementing Directive 2005/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the 
Council with regard to ecodesign requiremen ts for household refrigerating appliances 
(21 pages, in English).  
6. Description of content:  This draft Commission Regulation sets minimum energy 
performance requirements for house hold refrigerating appliances, as  a cost-effective potential 
exists to limit their energy consumption. In  accordance with Directive 2005/32/EC, products 
not meeting these minimum requirements will not be allowed to be placed on the EU market.  
The draft Regulation is based on the findings of a technical, environmental and economic 
study which has been carried out with  stakeholders from around the world. 
This draft Commission Regulation will repeal Di rective 96/57/EC of the European Parliament 
and of the Council of 3 September 1996 on ener gy efficiency requirements for household 
electric refrigerators, freezers and combinations thereof.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Fight against climate change, increase of energy efficiency in the EU.  G/TBT/N/EEC/273 
Page 2  
 
  8. Relevant documents:   Directive 2005/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 
of 6 July 2005 establishing a framework for th e setting of ecodesign re quirements for energy-
using products, Official Journa l L 191, 22 July 2005 P. 0029 – 0058 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=OJ :L:2005:191:0029:0058:EN:PDF
 
Directive 96/57/EC of the Eu ropean Parliament and of the Council of 3 September 1996 on 
energy efficiency requirements for household electric refrigerat ors, freezers and combinations 
thereof, Official Journal L 236, 18 September 1996, P. 0036  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31996L0057:EN:HTML  
Technical, environmental a nd economic preparatory study, http://www.ecocold-domestic.org  
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    July 2009 
20 days from publication in  the Official Journal 
of the EU. The first requirements will be 
applicable from 1 July 2010. 
10. Final date for comments:  60 days from date of notification. 
11. Text available from: National enquiry point [  ], or addre ss, telephone and fax numbers, 
e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:    
European Commission 
EC-TBT Enquiry Point Fax:  + (32) 2 299 80 43  E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu The text is available on the EC-TBT Website :  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/   
And can downloaded here
.