EN Official Journal of the European Union L 306/16

COMMISSION DECISION

of 6 April 2004

establishing revised ecological criteria for the award of the Community eco-label to refrigerators and amending Decision 2000/40/EC

(notified under document number C(2004) 1414)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2004/669/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1980/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 July 2000 on a revised Community eco-label award scheme (1), and in particular the second subparagraph of Article 6(1) thereof, after consulting the European Union Eco-Labelling Board,

Whereas:

(1) Under Regulation (EC) No 1980/2000, the Community eco-label may be awarded to a product possessing characteristics which enable it to contribute significantly to improvements in relation to key environmental aspects.

(2) Regulation (EC) No 1980/2000 provides that specific eco-label criteria are to be established according to product groups.

(3) It also provides that the review of eco-label criteria, as well as of the assessment and verification requirements related to those criteria, is to take place in good time before the end of the period of validity of the criteria specified for the product group concerned.

(4) It is appropriate, in order to reflect developments on the market, to revise the ecological criteria established by Commission Decision 2000/40/EC of 16 December 1999 establishing ecological criteria for the award of the Community eco-label to refrigerators (2). At the same time, the period of validity of that Decision should be modified.

(5) A new Decision should be adopted establishing the specific ecological criteria for that product group, which should be valid for a period of three years.

(6) It is appropriate to allow a transitional period of not more than eighteen months for producers whose products have been awarded the eco-label before 1 May 2004 or who have applied for such an award before that date, so that they have sufficient time .to adapt their products to comply with the new criteria.

(7) The measures provided for in this Decision are based on the draft criteria developed by the European Union Eco-labelling Board established under Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 1980/2000.

(8) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee instituted by Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 1980/2000,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

In order to be awarded the Community eco-label, for refrigerators, under Regulation (EC) No 1980/2000, an appliance must fall within the product group ‘refrigerators’ as defined in Article 2, and must comply with the ecological criteria set out in the Annex to this Decision.

Article 2

The product group ‘refrigerators’ shall comprise all electric, mains-operated household refrigerators, frozen food storage cabinets, food freezers and their combinations. Appliances that may also use other energy sources, such as batteries, shall be excluded.

Article 3

For administrative purposes, the code number assigned to the product group ‘refrigerators’ shall be ‘012’.

Article 4

In Decision 2000/40/EC, Article 3 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 3 This Decision shall apply until 30 April 2004’.

Article 5

This Decision, with the exception of Article 4, shall apply from 1 May 2004 until 31 May 2007.

Producers of products falling within the product group ‘refrigerators’ which have been awarded the eco-label before 1 May 2004 may continue to use that label until 31 October 2005.

Producers of products falling within the product group ‘refrigerators’ who have applied for the award of the eco-label in respect of those products before 1 May 2004 may be awarded the eco-label under the conditions laid down in Decision 2000/40/EC. In such cases the label may be used until 31 October 2005.

Article 6

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 6 April 2004. For the Commission Margot WALLSTRÖM Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 237, 21.9.2000, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 13, 19.1.2000, p. 22; Decision as amended by Decision 2004/214/EC (OJ L 67, 5.3.2004, p. 23).