Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on energy end-use efficiency and energy services’
Date: 2004-06-17
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: energy efficiency, energy industry, energy policy, energy saving, public awareness campaign

22.12.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 318/19

2.12
welcomes the fact that the Commission will seek to
ensure that the contribution of cooperatives and other social
economy enterprises to agricultural development is exploited
through Community initiatives;

that

stresses

2.13
the Commission and Member State
governments should examine the possibility of granting tax
concessions to cooperatives on the basis of their usefulness in
regional or social terms and of whether they essentially observe
the main founding principles of cooperatives: democracy, the
solidarity of members, both workers and consumers, and their
direct management of entrepreneurial activities;

2.15
urges the Commission and Member States to actively
promote the establishment of co-ops (particularly marketing
co-ops) in the new forms of agriculture and rural activities,
such as organic farming, aquaculture, etc. Actions might
include training, facilitation, legal advice, identification of parti-
cipants, etc.;

urges municipalities and regions to take better account

2.16
of the cooperative form of enterprise in their industrial policy;

draws attention to the opportunities which coopera-
2.14
tives offer in terms of developing the local economy and new
innovative forms of employment at local and regional level;

recalls that cooperatives offer new opportunities for
2.17
improving employment, service provision and economic regen-
eration in remote areas which suffer from lack of capital.

Brussels, 16 June 2004.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Peter STRAUB

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Proposal for a Directive of the European Parlia-
ment and of the Council on energy end-use efficiency and energy services’

(2004/C 318/06)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

Having regard to the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on energy
end-use efficiency and energy services (COM(2003) 739 final — 2003/0300 (COD));

Having regard to the decision of the Council of 23 January 2004 to consult it on this subject, under
Article 175 of the Treaty establishing the European Community;

Having regard to the decision of its president of 4 November 2002 to instruct the Commission for Sustain-
able Development to draw up an opinion on this subject;

Having regard to the Council Decision of 25 April 2002 concerning the approval, on behalf of the Euro-
pean Community, of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
and the joint fulfilment of commitments thereunder (2002/358/EC) (1);

Having regard to the Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004
concerning a mechanism for monitoring the Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing
the Kyoto Protocol (280/2004/EC) (2)

Having regard to Directive 96/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 1996
concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity (3);

(1) OJ L 130, 15.5.2002, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 49, 19.2.2004, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 27, 30.1.1997, p. 20.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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Having regard to its Opinion of 18 September 1997 on climate change and energy — CdR 104/1997
fin (1) — and its Opinion of 14 March 2002 on the Proposal for a Council Decision concerning the
approval, on behalf of the European Community, of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change and the joint fulfilment of commitments thereunder — CdR 458/2001
fin (2);

Having regard to its Opinion on the Communication from the Commission on the 6th Environment Action
Programme of the European Community ‘Environment 2010, Our future, Our choice’ — the 6th Environ-
ment Action Programme — Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council laying
down the Community Environment Action Programme 2001-2010, COM(2001) 31 final — CdR 36/2001
fin (3);

Whereas:

1.

2.

3.

4.

increased end-use energy efficiency is essential to protect the environment, to reduce the demand
for energy and to fulfil the objectives set out in Kyoto; the development of a market for end-use
energy efficiency and energy services will make an important contribution towards achieving this
objective;

regional and local authorities in Europe have, for years, played a pioneering role in achieving energy
savings, e.g. through the use of renewable sources of energy and by testing intelligent energy
systems;

many regional and local authorities in Europe have committed themselves to meeting the objectives
set out in the Kyoto Protocol;

there must first be popular awareness of the concept of energy saving; regional and local authorities,
as the political bodies which are closest to the people, can play their part in achieving this objective
and the European Union must provide the requisite freedom of action in this respect;

Having regard to the draft Opinion (CdR 92/2004 rev.1), adopted by the Commission for Sustainable
Development on 3 May 2004 (rapporteur: Mr Sinner, Bavarian Minister for European Affairs and Regional
Relations (DE, EPP));

adopted the following opinion at its 55th Plenary Session, held on 16 and 17 June (meeting of 17 June).

1. Views of the Committee of the Regions

The Committee of the Regions

1.1
shares the view of the Commission of the European
Communities that increased end-use energy efficiency is a key
objective. It welcomes the Commission's intention of helping to
develop a market for end-use energy efficiency and energy
services. The CoR, too, believes that it is essential to bolster this
market and thereby reduce emissions and promote sustainable
development;

1.2
considers the proposal for a directive as representing, in
principle, an appropriate first step towards achieving these
objectives;

1.3
unreservedly supports the established goal of protecting
the climate and respecting the attendant obligation to reduce
energy consumption. In the EU Member States, regions and
municipalities a variety of measures have already been intro-
duced with a view to meeting this obligation (cf., inter alia, the
Energy Saving Law adopted by the German Bunderstag on
1 April 2004). Such measures also include the efforts made to
improve energy efficiency in all fields of energy consumption;

(1) OJ C 379, 15.12.1997, p. 11.
(2) OJ C 192, 12.8.2002, p. 59.
(3) OJ C 357, 14.12.2001, p. 44.

1.4
takes the view that implementation of energy efficiency
measures, measures to achieve energy savings by end-users and
the provision of energy services should be in line with the
context of competition-orientated markets;
the
same time underline the priority to be attached to enhancing
the public service so that it can continue to assume its respon-
sibilities in terms of quality, security and accessibility;

it would at

1.5
does not dispute the view that appropriate framework
conditions are required in order to bring about a substantial
increase in end-use energy efficiency. The best way to achieve
this objective is to stimulate and increase demand for appro-
priate technologies and procedures. The proposal that enter-
prises should, rather, be obliged to provide such services
appears problematic. Enterprises would thus have to have
procedures and technologies available which no-one would be
required to buy resulting in higher prices for end-users;

1.6
considers that the proposal for a directive runs counter
to established practice in cases where it disregards fundamental
structures of the internal energy market. The proposal for a
directive obliges Member States to ensure that energy retailers
and suppliers offer their customers,
in all end-use sectors,
energy services and energy efficiency measures, in some cases
free of charge.
is, however, hardly
possible to control supply. Furthermore, the market players
concerned, such as unbundled energy distribution companies
and energy sales companies new to the market, are too
different for them to be subject to the same or comparable
regulatory measures;

In the open market

it

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1.7
regards the obligation placed upon network operators to
offer and provide energy services to final customers as an
infringement of the internal market directive;

1.8
regards the establishment of new official structures with
monitoring and verifying tasks — which are bound to involve
considerable costs — as being of limited suitability as a means
of increasing end-use energy efficiency and pressing ahead with
the development of a market for end-use energy efficiency
measures and energy services. Member States
should be
allowed to use existing bodies for carrying out these tasks.
According to the proposal for a directive, the costs of the
measures taken to achieve the required level of energy saving
‘should’ not exceed their benefits. As it is, however, not clear
how this cost-benefit analysis is to be carried out, this obliga-
tion represents nothing more than a proposal, devoid of all
practical meaning, with the result that costs may rise out of all
proportion to the benefits. There is therefore a danger that the
provision of Article 10b of
for a directive,
whereby particular costs may be included in distribution tariffs,
will place the burden on final consumers;

the proposal

1.9
urges that the setting up of a uniform rate for increased
efficiency of 1 % for all Member States must not lead to distor-
tions in competition, since Member States which have already
attained a high level of efficiency could achieve further effi-
ciency gains only at comparatively high cost. It must be guar-
anteed that the efforts made by the Member States in the past
will be duly taken into account. The taking into account of
energy saving measures made by Member States since 1991
foreseen in Annex 1 to the proposal must be made in such a
way that distortions in competition are excluded; moreover, the
CoR rejects the placing of an disproportionate burden on the
public authorities and asks for an equal treatment of the public
and the private sector;

1.10
regards the proposed measures, such as the establish-
ment of a uniform energy saving target, the creation of new
inspection bureaucracies and the establishment of mandatory
markets for energy services, as constituting, by virtue of their
scope and intensity, a very far-reaching encroachment upon
the energy policies of the Member States.

Brussels, 17 June 2004.

2. Recommendations of the Committee of the Regions

The Committee of the Regions

for a directive,

calls on the Commission to revise key points in the
2.1
proposal
the objective of which is very
welcome. The aim of this revision should be, above all, to
further develop and strengthen demand for energy services by
providing information, advice and support. It suggests in this
respect a European wide information campaign to increase the
awareness of environmental benefits of energy savings;

requests the Commission to respect

2.2
the subsidiarity
principle by continuing, to leave it up to the Member States,
regions and municipalities, to authorise, certify and accredit
energy service enterprises, monitor energy audit schemes and
the market
for energy services, draw up energy efficiency
programmes and establish publicly overseen financing arrange-
ments;

2.3
proposes that the degree of detail of the provisions be
limited to a level compatible with the Commission's commit-
ment to deregulation,
less bureaucracy and simplification of
procedures;

2.4
calls on the Commission not to place an dispropor-
tionate burden on the public sector regarding the energy saving
target. The public and the private sector should both be made
responsible to the same degree to contribute to the overall goal
of enhanced energy-efficiency;

2.5
points out that, in order to comply with the obligations
set out in the proposal for a directive, it will be necessary to
introduce supervisory measures, collect data and draw up
reports for the Commission. This, in turn, will require public
administrations and also enterprises to take on new staff —
who were not hitherto needed — e.g. for the purposes of (a)
collecting and passing on information concerning final consu-
mers which was previously not relevant (e.g. with regard to
heating oil) and (b) for the marketing of energy services. This
should be taken into account and incorporated into the
proposal;

2.6
reminds the Commission of the need to bring the new
proposal for a directive fully into line with the objectives of all
legal provisions in the energy field and, in particular, with the
objectives of the Directive on the internal energy market.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Peter STRAUB