Notice pursuant to Article 19 (3) of Council Regulation No 17/62 concerning Case No IV/C-3/36.494 - EACEM energy saving commitment
Date: 1998-01-16
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: electronics industry, energy consumption, energy saving, recording equipment, restrictive trade practice, television equipment

C  12/2

EN

Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities

16.1.98

Notice  pursuant  to  Article  19  (3)  of  Council  Regulation  No  17/62 (˛)  concerning  Case
No  IV/C(cid:220)3/36.494  -  EACEM  energy  saving  commitment

(98/C  12/02)

(Text  with  EEA  relevance)

I.(cid:217)INTRODUCTION

1.(cid:217)On  30  April  1997,  the  European  Association  of
Consumer  Electronics  Manufacturers 
("EACEM’)
submitted  to  the  European  Commission  for  negative
clearance  and/or  exemption  pursuant  to  Article  85
of  the  EC  Treaty  and  Article  53  of  the  EEA
Agreement,  a  voluntary  commitment  entered  into  by
its  members  to  reduce  energy
a 
large  part  of 
consumption  by 
("TVs’)  and  video
televisions 
recorders  ("VCRs’)  in  standby  mode.

II.(cid:217)THE  PARTIES

2.(cid:217)The  parties  to  the  commitment  are  EACEM  and  16

of  its  member  firms:

-(cid:217)Aiwa  (UK)  Ltd,

-(cid:217)Bang(cid:216)&(cid:216)Olufsen,

-(cid:217)Grundig  AG,

-(cid:217)Hitachi  Home  Electronics  Europe  Ltd,

-(cid:217)JVC  Europe,

-(cid:217)Loewe  Opta  GmbH,

-(cid:217)Mitsubishi  Electric  UK  Ltd,

-(cid:217)Panasonic  Europe  Ltd,

-(cid:217)Philips  Sound(cid:216)&(cid:216)Vision,

-(cid:217)Pioneer  Electronic  Europe  NV,

-(cid:217)Samsung  Europe  Headquarters,

-(cid:217)Sanyo  UK  Sales  Ltd,

-(cid:217)Sharp  Corporation,

-(cid:217)Sony  Europe  GmbH,

-(cid:217)Thomson  Multimedia,

-(cid:217)Toshiba.

(˛)(cid:217)OJ  13,  21.2.1962,  p.  204/62.

3.(cid:217)EACEM 

is  a  Brussels  based  organization  repre(cid:220)
senting  the  European  consumer  electronics  industry.
EACEM  has  29  members,  comprised  of  22  indi(cid:220)
vidual  companies  and  7  national  trade  associations.
EACEM’s  member  companies  account  for  more  than
80(cid:216)%  of  the  European  market  for  TVs  and  VCRs.

4.(cid:217)The  16  member  companies  of  EACEM  that  have
made 
the  voluntary  commitment  are  all  manu(cid:220)
facturers  of  electrical  and  electronic  goods  active  in
Europe.  All  of  them  manufacture  TVs  and  VCRs,
and  between  them  they  account  for  approximately
64(cid:216)% 
in  volume  of  the  EEA  market  for  these
products.

III.(cid:217)PRODUCTS  AND  MARKETS

5.(cid:217)The  notified  voluntary  commitment  relates  to  the
power  use  of  TVs  and  VCRs.  The  parties,  all  of
which  sell  their  products  throughout  the  EEA,  have
undertaken  to  meet  certain  target  values  for  the
power  use  of  the  TVs  and  VCRs  that  they  sell
throughout  the  EEA.  The  agreement  will  therefore
affect  either  an  EEA  wide  market  for  TVs  and
VCRs  or  a  set  of  smaller  geographic  markets  for
TVs  and  VCRs  comprising  the  EEA.  The  market
position  of  the  parties  to  the  voluntary  commitment
is  approximately  the  same  under  either  of  these
market  definitions.

6.(cid:217)The  Commission  has  been  provided  with  market
share  estimates  made  by  an 
independent  market
research  firm  for  the  "Western  European’  market  for
TVs  and  VCRs.  These  figures  exclude  sales  in  some
of  the  smaller  EEA  states.  EACEM  have  represented
that  including  these  countries  in  the  figures  provided
would  not  significantly  change  the  market  shares
obtained.  According  to  these  figures  the  16  firms
that  have  made  the  voluntary  commitment  account
in
for  64,6(cid:216)%  of  the  European  market  for  TVs 
volume  terms,  and  64,5(cid:216)%  of  the  European  market
for  VCRs  in  volume  terms.

IV.(cid:217)BACKGROUND  TO  THE  AGREEMENT

7.(cid:217)The  vast  majority  of  TVs  and  VCRs  produced  and
used  in  Europe  operate  by  remote  control.  Switching
a  TV  off  using  only  its  remote  control,  i.e.  without
disconnecting  it  from  the  mains  electricity  supply  or
using  the  main  on/off  switch  merely  switches  the  TV

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to  a  standby  mode  where  it  continues  to  use  elec(cid:220)
trical  power.  Similarly,  switching  a  VCR  off  without
disconnecting  it  from  the  mains  power  supply,  leaves
it  in  a  standby  mode  where  it  is  still  consuming  elec(cid:220)
trical  power.  VCRs  are  typically  left  in  this  standby
mode  in  order  that  their  internal  clock  continues  to
work  so  that  they  can  be  programmed  to  switch  on
to  record  certain  television  programmes.

in  Europe  while 

8.(cid:217)The  combined  power  use  of  the  numerous  TVs  and
in  these  standby  modes
VCRs 
represents  a 
significant  consumption  of  energy,
which  could  be  substantially  reduced  by  changes  in
the  design  of  TVs  and  VCRs.  Individual  firms,  and
public  bodies  wishing  to  reduce  overall  energy  use
have  been  studying  this  problem.

9.(cid:217)One  of  the  most  recent  studies  of  this  problem  was
commissioned  by 
the  Commission’s  Directorate(cid:220)
General  for  Energy  (DG(cid:216)XVII)  and  completed  in
November  1996.  This  study,  entitled  "Standby  losses
and  energy  saving  potential  for  television  and  video
recorder  sets  in  Europe’,  was  made  by  a  group  of
consultants  led  by  Novem  BV  of  the  Netherlands.

this  model 

10.(cid:217)As  part  of  this  study  the  "Environmental  Change
Unit’  at  Oxford  University  calculated  estimates  of
future  power  use  by  TVs  and  VCRs  in  Europe  while
in  standby  mode,  and  modelled  the  effect  of  an
industry  scheme  to  reduce  standby  losses  on  this  use.
Using  information  obtained  from  five  major  manu(cid:220)
facturers  the  group  constructed  a  model  of  the
existing  population  of  TVs  and  VCRs  in  Europe
analysed  by  remaining  useful  life  and  standby  power
the  group
consumption.  Based  on 
produced  predictions  of  total  standby  power  use  by
all  TVs  and  VCRs  in  Europe  based  on  a  number  of
scenarios.  The  two  most  relevant  scenarios  were  the
"baseline’,  which  assumed  that  as  existing  appliances
were  replaced  by  users  they  would  be  replaced  with
appliances 
from  manufacturers’  current  product
ranges,  and  a  scenario  which  assumed  that  the
notified  arrangement  was  in  place,  i.e.  that  manu(cid:220)
facturers  would  reduce  the  average  standby  power
use  of  their  appliances  to  6W  by  2000.  The  main
result  of  this  modelling  exercise  are  set  out  in  the
tables  below.  The  model’s  results  were  in  terms  of
terawatt/hours  of  electricity.  Monetary  values  have
been  assigned  to  the  predicted  savings  using  an
average  price  to  consumers  of  electricity  of  0,15
ECU/KWh,  which  was  used  in  the  study  to  calculate
consumer  savings.

TV  Standby  energy  consumption
(TWh  unless  otherwise  indicated)

Baseline

Agreement

Saving

Saving
(ECU  million)

1995

2000

2005

2010

4,8

6,2

7,1

7,8

4,8

5,9

6,3

6,5

0,0

0,3

0,8

1,3

0

45

120

195

VCR  Standby  energy  consumption
(TWh  unless  otherwise  indicated)

Baseline

Agreement

Saving

Saving
(ECU  million)

1995

9,6

2000

10,3

2005

10,5

2010

11,2

9,6

9,3

8,1

7,9

0,0

1,0

2,4

3,3

0

150

360

495

Combined  Standby  energy  consumption
(TWh  unless  otherwise  indicated)

Baseline

Agreement

Saving

Saving
(ECU  million)

1995

14,4

2000

16,5

2005

17,6

2010

19,0

14,4

15,2

14,4

14,4

0,0

1,3

3,2

4,6

0

195

480

690

in  generating 

11.(cid:217)The  most  striking  result  is  that  by  2005  total  elec(cid:220)
tricity  use  in  Europe  will  be  3,2  TWh  lower  each
it  would  be  without  this  scheme.  At
year  than 
current  prices  this  would  represent  a  saving  to
consumers  of  ECU  480  million  per  year,  and  in
addition  would  avoid  all  of  the  negative  externalities
this  much  electricity.  As
involved 
against  this,  the  study  estimates  the  cost  of  adapting
a  design  of  TV  or  VCR  that  does  not  yet  conform
to  the  6W  target  to  be  ECU  3  per  unit.  On  this  basis
the  report  estimates  that  the  cost  to  industry  of
implementing  the  scheme  will  be  "up  front’  redesign
and  depreciation  of  old  stock  of  ECU  11  million  and
an  ongoing  extra  cost  of  components  of  ECU  65
million  per  year.

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Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities

16.1.98

V.(cid:217)THE  NOTIFIED  AGREEMENT

(ii) EACEM

is 

the 

sponsored  by 

in  the  form  of  a
12.(cid:217)The  notified  arrangement 
trade
voluntary  commitment 
association,  EACEM,  and  signed  by  the  manu(cid:220)
facturers  mentioned  above.  The  commitment  was
devised  by  EACEM  in  consultation  with  the  staff  of
DG  XVII,  and  it  call,  on  the  parties  to  make  various
reports  to  the  Commission  on  the  attainment  of  the
the
environmental  and  energy 
scheme.  To  preserve 
the
parties,  and  to  avoid  anti(cid:220)competitive  exchanges  of
information,  the  scheme  is  to  be  administered  by  an
outside  consultant.  Any  interested  manufacturer  can
make  the  commitment  and  join  the  scheme  and  the
only  sanction  for  failing  to  meet  the  commitments  is
publicity  that  one  no  longer  does  so.

saving  goals  of 
the  confidentiality  of 

13.(cid:217)The  commitments  made  by  the  various  groups  are  as

follows:

(i) The  manufacturers

-(cid:217)From  1  January  2000  all  TVs  and  VCRs
they  place  on  the  market  will  have  a  standby
power  use  less  than  or  equal  to  10W.  The
average  standby  power  consumption  of  all
the  units  sold  by  a  given  manufacturer  will
not  exceed  6W.

-(cid:217)From  1  January  1998  manufacturers  will
inform  consumers  of  the  standby  power  use
of  all  the  models  of  TV  and  VCR  that  they
put  on  the  market.

-(cid:217)From  1  July  1997  manufacturers  will  provide
an  idependent  consultant  with  information
about  the  power  use  of  each  model  of  TV
and  VCR  sold  by  them  and  the  number  of
units  of  each  type  sold.

-(cid:217)In 

addition 

each  manufacturer  will
participate  in  further  efforts  to  reduce  the
energy 
electronic
appliances.

consumer 

use 

of 

-(cid:217)To  establish  and  keep  updated  a 

list  of
participating  manufacturers,  and  to  provide
this  list  and  updates  to  DG  XVII  of  the
Commission,  and 
third  parties  who
to 
request  it.

-(cid:217)To  obtain  market  share  and  sales  data  from
the 
independent  market  research  firm  on
sales  of  TVs  and  VCRs  and  to  provide  this
information  to  the  consultant.

-(cid:217)To  engage 

the  outside  consultant  and

manage  the  contract  with  the  consultant.

(iii) The  consultant

For  each  calendar  year,  the  Consultant  will
prepare  and  submit  to  EACEM  and  DG(cid:216)XVII
by  the  end  of  April  the  following  year,  a  report
setting  out:  a  list  of  the  manufacturers  who  have
not  supplied  data,  a  list  of  the  manufacturers
whose  sales  figures  differ  by  more  than  10(cid:216)%
independent  market  research  firm
from  the 
data,  the 
joint  market  share  of  the  manu(cid:220)
facturers,  and  from  30  January  2001  a  list  of  the
manufacturers  exceeding  the  specified  maximum
and  average  standby  power  consumption  figures
and 
power
standby 
consumption  for  all  the  manufacturers.

an  overall 

average 

VI.(cid:217)CONCLUSION

14.(cid:217)The  Commission  intends  to  take  a  favourable  view
pursuant  to  Article  85  of  the  EC  Treaty  and  Article
53  of  the  EEA  Agreement  towards  the  notified
agreement;  before  doing  so  it  invites  all  interested
third  parties  to  submit  their  observations  within
30  days  of  the  publication  of  this  notice  to  the
reference
following 
IV/C(cid:220)3/36.494  -  EACEM:

quoting 

address 

the 

European  Commission,
Directorate(cid:220)General  for  Competition  (DG(cid:217)IV),
Directorate  C  -  Information,  Communication  and
Multimedia,
Rue  de  la  Loi/Wetstraat  200,
B(cid:220)1049  Brussels.