Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament pursuant to Article 294 (6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the Council's position at first reading on the adoption of an amended proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the indication by labelling and standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by energy-related products (recast)
Date: 2010-04-15
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: consumer information, energy consumption, energy saving, household electrical appliance, labelling

EN 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 15.4.2010 
COM(2010)164 final 

2008/0222 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294 (6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

Council's position at first reading on the adoption of an amended proposal for a 
Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the indication by labelling 
and standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by 
energy-related products (recast) 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
 
2008/0222 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294 (6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

Council's position at first reading on the adoption of an amended proposal for a 
Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the indication by labelling 
and standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by 
energy-related products (recast) 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the EP and the Council 
COM(2008)0778 - 2008/0222(COD) 

13 November 2008 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

24 March 2009 

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: 

5 May 2009 

Date of the opinion of the Committee of the Regions: 

19 March 2010 

Date of adoption of the Council's position at first reading: 

[14] April 2010 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL 

The  aim  of  the  recast  of  the  "Energy  Labelling  Directive"  or  "ELD"  is  to  extend  its  scope 
(currently limited to household appliances) also to products in the commercial and industrial 
sectors.  It  also  extends  the  scope  to  energy-related  products  that  allow  for  energy  savings 
when in use, although they do not consume energy themselves. This aligns the scope with the 
recently  extended  scope  of  the  Ecodesign  Directive.  In  doing  so,  it  follows  the  overall 
objective  to  ensure  the  free  movement  of  products  and  improve  their  energy  (and  other 
essential resources) consumption, thereby protecting the environment and contributing to CO2 
emissions  reduction.  The  resulting  framework  Directive  on  labelling  will  also  be  a  building 
block for an integrated sustainable environmental product policy, by including initiatives on 
incentives and public procurement. The proposal has the form of a recast. 

EN 

2 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3. 

COMMENTS ON THE COUNCIL POSITION 

3.1. 

General comments on the Council Position 

The text of the negotiated Council Position is, in substance and to a large extent, in line with 
the Commission's proposal and therefore can be supported. 

3.2. 

Agreement on Council Position at first reading stage 

The  negotiated  Council  Position  is  the  result  of  inter-institutional  negotiations  in  two  stage 
process.  The  first  stage  covered  the  technical  substance  of  the  proposal  and  the  second  the 
adaptation  of  the  proposal  to  the  Lisbon  Treaty  as  regards  its  legal  basis  and  comitology 
provisions. 

EN 

3 

   EN 

 
As for the technical substance, on 2 December 2009 the chairman of the ITRE Committee, Mr 
Herbert  Reul,  confirmed  Parliament's  agreement  to  the  text  as  agreed  at  the  final  political 
trilogue on 17 November 2009 and endorsed by Coreper on 19 November 2009. 

As to the adaptation to Lisbon Treaty, the compromise reached was endorsed by Coreper on 
24  March  2010  and  confirmed  by  Parliament's  ITRE  Committee  chairman  Mr  Reul  on  25 
March. 

The  negotiated  Council  position  was  formally  adopted  by  written  procedure  on  [14]  April 
2010. 

The main subjects of negotiation on which an agreement was reached are as follows  

•  Change of legal basis (preamble): due to the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, Council 
and Parliament agreed to change the legal basis to Article 194 TFEU, taking into account 
that  the  aim  of  the  Directive  is  essentially  to  achieve  energy  savings.  Considering  that 
position and that the aim of the Directive is to promote energy efficiency whilst keeping 
the  internal  market  aspects  of  114  TFEU,  Commission  can  agree  on  the  change  of  legal 
basis of its proposal from 114 TFEU to 194 TFEU and is including it in the addendum to 
its Communication (2009)665final.  

•  Delegated acts: due to the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, Council and Parliament 
agreed on the provisions regarding the delegated acts referred to in articles 10, 11, 11a and 
11b. A Commission statement will be attached to clarify that notification of delegated acts 
shall  take  into  account  the  periods  of  recess  in  institutions  (Annex  1).  A  joint  Council, 
Parliament and Commission statement will also be attached indicating that the provisions 
of this Directive do not constitute a precedent as regards the implementation of Article 290 
TFEU (Annex II) 

•  Extension  of  scope  (article  1(1)-(2)):  the  scope  is  extended  to  cover  all  energy-related 
products  of  the  household,  commercial  and  industrial  sector,  as  proposed  by  the 
Commission. 

•  Unauthorised  use  of  label  (article  2):  language  is  inserted  to  clarify  what  constitutes 

legitimate and illegitimate use of the label. 

•  Market  surveillance  (article  3):  market  surveillance  provisions  are  reinforced  to  provide 

better enforcement on the Directive. 

•  Advertising  requirements  (article  4(a)-(b)):  a  new  provision  is  inserted  requiring  that  the 
energy efficiency class must be shown in any advertisement which contains energy related 
information or the price of those products covered by delegated acts. 

•  Public  procurement  (article  9(1)-(2)):  Member  States  are  encouraged  to  use  the  highest 
energy efficiency class for procurement (subject to cost-effectiveness, economic feasibility, 
technical suitability and sufficient competition). 

EN 

4 

   EN 

 
 
•  Incentives  (article  9(3)-(4)):  Similarly  to  procurement,  Member  States  are  encouraged  to 
apply  the  highest  energy  efficiency  class  or  even  aim  higher  by  applying  the  highest 
performance  levels  when  providing  incentives  for  their  citizens.  Taxation  and  fiscal 
measures are excluded as incentives from this Directive. 

EN 

5 

   EN 

 
•  Label Layout (article 11(4)(d)): Three more classes (A+, A++, A+++) can be added to the 
A-G scale which remains the basis.  There could be  a  review by the Commission when a 
significant  proportion  of  products  will  be  in  the  two  highest  energy  efficiency  classes 
(A++/+++),  and  further  differentiation  is  justified.  A  Commission  statement  will  be 
attached to clarify what is meant by "a significant proportion of products". A recital will 
indicate that at the time (by 2014) of reviewing the framework Directive, the label review 
will consider the option of rescaling. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Council Position meets the aims of the Commission's initial proposal. The Commission 
therefore supports the text. 

EN 

6 

   EN 

 
 
ANNEX I 

Commission statements 

concerning the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council 
on the indication by labelling and standard product information of the consumption of 
energy and other resources by energy-related products (recast) 

Art. 1 (2) 

"When  setting  out  the  priority  list  of  energy-related  products  referred  to  in  Recital  [3a],  the 
Commission will give due attention also to energy-related construction products, taking into 
account in particular the potential energy savings that could be achieved through the labelling 
of some of those products, given that buildings account for 40 % of total energy consumption 
in the EU." 

Art. 11 (2) 

"When  proposing  new  implementing  measures  under  the  recast  Directive,  the  Commission 
shall  ensure  that  overlapping  legislation  is  avoided  and  that  overall  consistency  in  the  EU-
legislation on products is maintained." 

Art. 11 (4)(d) 

Significant proportion of products for the review of label classification 

"The  Commission  considers  that  the  proportion  of  products  in  the  two  highest  energy 
efficiency classes is considered to be significant when it can be estimated that  

–  either the number of models available on the internal market which achieve class A+++ or 

A++ is about one third or more of the total number of relevant models available, 

–  or  the  share  of  the  annual  sales  of  products  in  the  internal  market  which  achieve  class 

A+++ or A++ is about one third or more, 

–  or both." 

Consumer information 

"The Commission supports the use of Community instruments such as the Intelligent Energy-
Europe Programme to contribute to: 

–  initiatives that raise end-users’ awareness on the benefits of energy labelling 

–  initiatives that monitor the market evolution and the technological development leading to 
more energy efficient products, in particular by identifying the best performing models in 
the various product groups and making the information available to all interested parties, 
such as consumer organisations, industry and environmental NGOs with the view of large 
dissemination towards consumers. 

Such  monitoring  could  also  serve  as  an  indicator  for  the  review  of  Labelling  and/or 
Ecodesign measures under Directives 1992/75/EEC and 2005/32/EC. " 

EN 

7 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
 
Recess period 

"The European Commission takes note that except in cases where the legislative act provides 
for  an  urgency  procedure,  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  consider  that  the 
notification of delegated acts shall take into account the periods of recess of the institutions 
(winter, summer and European elections), in order to ensure that the European Parliament and 
the  Council  are  able  to  exercise  their  prerogatives  within  the  time  limits  laid  down  in  the 
relevant legislative acts, and is ready to act accordingly." 

EN 

8 

   EN 

 
ANNEX II 

Institutional statement 

Statement by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission 
on Article 290 TFEU 

"The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission declare that the provisions of this 
Directive  shall  be  without  prejudice  to  any  future  position  of  the  institutions  as  regards  the 
implementation  of  Article  290  TFEU  or  individual  legislative  acts  containing  such 
provisions." 

EN 

9 

   EN