REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Review of Directive 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the indication of labelling and standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by energy-related products
Date: 2015-07-15
Institutions: Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission
Subjects: consumer information, energy consumption, energy saving, free movement of goods, household electrical appliance, labelling, single market

EN 

   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 15.7.2015  COM(2015) 345 final   REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Review of Directive 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the indication of labelling and standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by energy-related products {SWD(2015) 143 final}  
 
 
1.  PURPOSE OF THE REPORT 

The Energy Labelling Directive (2010/30/EU) 1 requires the Commission to evaluate the 
effectiveness  of  the  Directive  and  submit  a  report  to  the  European  Parliament  and 
Council by 31 December 2014. The Directive also requires a report on the delegation of 
powers by 19 June 2015, and a synthesis of the national market surveillance reports that 
the Member States have to submit every four years.  

The  2012  report2  on  the  review  of  the  Ecodesign  Directive  (2009/125/EC)  3  concluded 
that an immediate revision of that Directive was not necessary, but that specific aspects 
for  which  insufficient  information  was  available  at  the  time  of  the  review  could  be 
reassessed  in  the  review  of  the  Energy  Labelling  Directive  in  2014,  such  as  the 
effectiveness  of  implementing  measures  and  harmonised  standards  and  a  closer 
coordination between the implementation of two Directives. 

This report fulfils these requirements. 

2.  ASSESSMENT  OF  EFFECTIVENESS,  EFFICIENCY,  COHERENCE,  EU  ADDED  VALUE 

AND RELEVANCE 

The objectives of the Energy Labelling and Ecodesign Directives are: 

 

Increasing  energy  efficiency  of  products  and  the  level  of  protection  of  the 
environment 

  Free movement of energy-related products in the European Union 

  Providing consumers with information that allows them to choose more efficient 

products  

Evaluation of the policy4 reveals that: 

1.  The  ecodesign  and  energy  labelling  measures  in  place  are  effective  in  that  they 
bring tangible and substantial energy and cost savings. Ex-post evaluation during 
the  reviews  of  specific  energy  labelling  measures  in  place  since  the  1990's 
showed  rapid  market  transformation  towards  more  efficiency  in  most  labelled 
product  groups.  The  implementation  of  the  two  Directives  is  estimated  to  save 
175 Mtoe primary energy per year by 2020 (around 15% of these savings are due 
to energy labelling measures, bearing in mind that around half of product groups 
are only covered by ecodesign).  This corresponds to 19% savings with respect to 
business-as-usual  energy  use  for  those  products.  These  policies  will  deliver 
almost half of the 20% energy efficiency target by 2020. Dependency on imports 
of  energy  would  be  reduced  by  23%  and  37%  for  natural  gas  and  coal, 
respectively. In total, the ecodesign and energy labelling measures in place to date 

1   OJ L153 of 18.6.2010, p. 1 

2   COM(2012) 765 final 

3   OJ L285 of 31.10.2009, p.10 

4   See Evaluation Report by the Commission (SWD(2015) 143) 

2 

 
 
 
                                                 
are  estimated  to  save  end-users  of  products  100  billion  euro  per  year  in  2020 
through  lower  utility  bills  (translated  to  400-500  euros  yearly  savings  in  each 
household). 

2.  There  are  no  obstacles  to  the  free  movement  of  energy-related  products  in  the 

European Union internal market. 

3.  Benefits outweigh the costs, both for businesses and for society as a whole. While 
the  costs  of  requirements  and  labelling  will  fall  on  manufacturers  in  the  first 
instance,  these  are  then  passed  through  to  the  end-users  (households  and  other 
businesses)  who  benefit  from  cost  savings  from  reduced  energy  use,  which 
considerably outweigh the upfront purchase costs. Detailed data for the EU as a 
whole are not available. For the UK the benefit to cost ratio has been estimated at 
3.8 for the regulations in place in 2012.5 

4.  The  vast  majority  of  consumers  (around  85%)  recognise  and  understand  the 

energy label, and use it in their purchasing decisions. 

5.  The  introduction  of  A+  and  higher  classes  under  the  2010  Energy  labelling 
Directive reduced the  effectiveness of the energy label in  motivating consumers 
to  buy  more  efficient  products.  The  design  amendment  that  uses  additional 
plusses to indicate higher efficiency classes beyond the A class is less effective in 
motivating  the  purchase  of  higher  efficiency  products  than  the  original  A  to  G 
scale. While consumer research shows that the new label scale is understandable 
for  consumers,  it  has  reduced  their  willingness  to  pay  more  for  more  efficient 
products, because they are less motivated by a difference between A+ and A+++ 
than by a difference between C and A. 6 Some of the pictograms used to represent 
other  parameters  in  the  label  are  also  difficult  to  understand,  for  example  the 
'switch logo' on the television label and the drying efficiency on the dishwasher 
label. 7 

6.  There is a trend towards purchase of larger products, which are efficient and thus 
achieve a high energy class, but have much higher absolute energy consumption 
than smaller appliances of the same type.  

7.  Weak enforcement by national market surveillance authorities contributes to non-
compliance,  reducing  the  envisaged  energy  savings  by  an  estimated  10%.  See 
also Section 3. 

5   Compared to an average of 3.0 for a range of 17 environmental policies. The ratio includes the costs 
for manufacturers of producing labels and meeting the requirements, the costs for enforcement and the 
financial  savings  to  final  consumers  from  reduced  energy  consumption.  It  does  not  include  benefits 
that are hard to quantify, such as the higher profit margins on more expensive efficient products, the 
stimulation  of  innovation,  the  contribution  to  energy  security,  and  removing  competition  from  poor 
quality  cheap  products  from  the  market  through  a  level  playing  field.  UK  Department  for 
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Emerging Findings from Defra’s Regulation Assessment First 
update covering 2012, February 2015.  

6   More details in London Economics & Ipsos Mori, A study on the impact of the energy label – and of 
potential  changes  to  it  –  on  consumer  understanding  and  on  purchase  decisions,  2014. 
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/studies 

7   Ecofys, Evaluation of the Energy Labelling Directive and specific aspects of the Ecodesign Directive: 

Background report I: Literature review, December 2013.  

3 

 
                                                 
8.  Measures  for  some  products  have  shown  levels  of  ambition  that  are  too  low 

compared to what is technically and economically feasible. 

9.  Although  some  measures  have  addressed  environmental  impacts  other  than 
energy in the use phase, potential for further reduction of such impacts exists, for 
example  on  aspects  of  durability,  reparability,  reusability,  recyclability,  and 
recoverability, recycled content, use of priority materials, hazardous substances. 

10. In terms of efficiency, the rulemaking process is too long (on average 49 months), 
sometimes  leading  to  outdated  technical  and  preparatory  work  at  the  time  of 
policy decisions, especially for fast developing electronic products. 

11. The two Directives are complementary and their implementation is largely done 

in a coherent way.  

12. For a number of products, the lower classes of the energy label are unpopulated, 
low-performing  models  and 
because  ecodesign  measures  have  banned 
manufacturers  have  responded  to  technological  progress  by  making  ever  more 
efficient products. For a number of product categories, the problem also relates to 
higher  classes.  In  the  most  extreme  cases  of  washing  machines,  fridges  and 
dishwashers  the  energy  label  currently  displays  A+++  to  D  classes,  but  only 
A+++, A++ and A+ appliances can still be placed on the market. Without a full 
A-G comparison the relevance of the label to consumers is undermined. 

13. EU-added  value  derives  from  the  harmonised  regulatory  framework  bringing 
down  costs  for  manufacturers  and  making  the  EU  a  trendsetter  in  international 
regulatory and standardisation efforts. 

14. The policy has continued relevance in reaching the EU's energy efficiency target 
beyond  2020.  It  can  also  contribute  to  resource  efficiency  and  the  circular 
economy. 

15. Consumer  information  remains  essential  in  the  digital  era.  The  energy  labelling 
regulations  have  recently  been  adapted  to  show  the  energy  label  also  on  the 
internet.8  

16. As  regards  the  contribution  of  the  requirement  for  advertisements  to  contain  a 
reference to the energy class (article 4(c)), this effect could not be quantified but 
the evaluation found that it did address an information failure in the market. 

17. The requirements for public procurement (article 9(1)) were already evaluated in 
2011 and, as a result were deleted from the Energy Labelling Directive and taken 
up in modified form in the Energy Efficiency Directive9. 

8   Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  No  518/2014  of  5  March  2014  amending  Commission 
Delegated  Regulations  (EU)  No  1059/2010,  (EU)  No  1060/2010,  (EU)  No  1061/2010,  (EU)  No 
1062/2010, (EU) No 626/2011, (EU) No 392/2012, (EU) No 874/2012, (EU) No 665/2013, (EU) No 
811/2013 and (EU) No 812/2013 with regard to labelling of energy-related products on the internet - 
OJ L 147, 17/05/2014 – p 1-28 

9   Directive 2012/27/EU, OJ L315 of 14.11.2012, p.1 

4 

 
                                                 
18. From  media  coverage  in  recent  years,  it  is  clear  that  the  benefits  of  the  policy 

have not been sufficiently communicated. 

3.  SYNTHESIS REPORT ON MARKET SURVEILLANCE 

Member States submitted reports to the Commission in 2014 on their market surveillance 
activities 2009-2013, based on a template provided by the Commission. 

The  information  submitted  shows  that  in  2009  and  2010,  about  a  third  of  the  Member 
States  undertook  little  or  no  market  surveillance  activity  on  energy  labelling  and 
ecodesign.  The  Commission  has  engaged  with  Member  States  on  this  issue  and  the 
number of Member States with low activity is decreasing.  

The number of inspections and the number of product models inspected has significantly 
increased  in  the  period  2009-2013,  as  ecodesign  and  energy  labelling  measures  have 
covered  more  and  more  product  groups  during  those  years.  The  number  of  Member 
States  testing  products  in  laboratories  increased  from  only  a  handful  to  almost  half  of 
them.  Although  product  testing  is  only  one  way  to  check  compliance,  it  is  an  essential 
instrument  as  it  is  ultimately  the  only  way  to  establish  whether  a  product  meets  the 
minimum  ecodesign  requirements  and/or  indicates  the  correct  energy  label  class.  One 
reason that not all Member States test products in laboratories is that it is expensive. That 
is probably also the reason why a large share of tests concern smaller appliances such as 
external  power  supplies  and  lamps,  and  compliance  with  standby  and  off-mode 
requirements. 

The  level  of  compliance  found  by  market  surveillance  authorities  varies  by  Member 
State,  by  product  and  by  year.  5%  to  40%  of  products  are  found  to  be  offered  for  sale 
without the energy labels or with the label displayed incorrectly (e.g. not clearly visible, 
wrong  label,  indications  on  the  label  not  matching  laboratory  test).  In  the  case  of 
ecodesign,  typically  10-50%  of  products  inspected  and/or  tested  are  found  to  be  non-
compliant. However, the level of non-compliance found by authorities is usually higher 
than  the  overall  level  of  non-compliance  in  the  market,  because  market  surveillance 
targets  brands  and  shops  with  a  known  history  of  or  a  suspected  high  non-compliance. 
Overall, non-compliance in the market can be estimated at 20%, leading to some 10% of 
envisaged energy savings being lost (16 Mtoe primary energy per year). 

4.  DELEGATED POWERS 

Ecodesign and Energy Labelling are both framework Directives that set out general rules 
and principles, empowering the Commission to adopt more detailed acts in coordination 
with  the  Member  States.  Both  Directives  set  out  the  conditions  for  the  exercise  by  the 
Commission  of  this  power.  Under  the  Energy  Labelling  Directive  these  acts  take  the 
form of delegated acts10 which are discussed by the Member States in an expert group, 
whilst  for  ecodesign  these  are  implementing  measures  adopted  under  the  'comitology' 
procedure  with  majority  voting  by  the  Member  States  in  a  Regulatory  Committee.  A 
delegated  act  on  energy  labelling  of  a  particular  product  is  usually  adopted  in  parallel 
with  an  ecodesign  implementing  measure  laying  down  minimum  energy  efficiency 
requirements  for  the  same  product  group  to  ensure  a  coherent  impact  of  the  two 
measures. 

10   Article 290 TFEU 

5 

 
  
                                                 
The Expert group on Energy Labelling was established by the Commission in December 
201211,  replacing  the  Regulatory  Committee  on  the  Energy  Labelling  of  Energy-using 
products  which  existed  under  the  original  energy  labelling  Directive  92/75/EEC.  The 
expert group discussed all the energy labelling measures adopted so far under Directive 
2010/30/EU,  thus  ensuring  the  Member  States  are  properly  consulted.  To  date,  12 
delegated  acts12  on  energy  labelling  have  been  adopted.  After  the  adoption  of  energy 
labelling  delegated  acts  by  the  Commission  neither  the  European  Parliament  nor  the 
Council  has  to  date  issued  any  objection  to  the  delegated  act  within  the  four-month 
objection  period.  The  delegated  acts  were  then  published  in  the  Official  Journal  of  the 
European Union and came into force soon after. 

The Commission considers that the delegation of powers with respect to energy labelling 
effectively contributes to the establishment of the necessary detailed rules on the energy 
labelling  of  products  and  appliances.  Moreover,  it  deems  that  it  has  exercised  its 
delegated powers under the energy labelling Directive correctly. 

5.  CONCLUSIONS 

Based on the outcome of the evaluation, the Commission considers that a revision of the 
Energy Labelling Directive is appropriate. A legislative proposal for the revision of the 
Energy  Labelling  Directive  accompanies  this  report,  in  particular  to  address  the 
decreased  effectiveness  of  the  label  (points  5  and  12  of  Section  2)  and  the  weak 
enforcement (points 5 and 7 of Section 2, Section 3). 

With  respect  to  the  Ecodesign  Directive,  addressing  the  issues  identified  during  the 
evaluation  requires  no  legislative  changes.  In  particular,  addressing  environmental 
impacts other than energy in the use phase (e.g. durability, recyclability, reparability) can 
be taken up more systematically under ecodesign measures without the need for changing 
the legislative framework. 

To improve the understanding of the energy label (Section 2, point 5), the Commission 
intends to carry out consumer testing when developing product-specific energy labels, in 
particular to ensure any pictograms and the label as a whole are comprehensible. 

To improve enforcement  (Section  2, point 7),  the Commission  also intends to  facilitate 
further  cooperation  between  national  market  surveillance  authorities  through  the 
Administrative Cooperation ('ADCO') groups on ecodesign and on energy labelling and 
through dedicated joint projects, such as the EU funded project 'EEpliant' 13. 

To  address  the  challenge  of  the  long  rulemaking  process  identified  in  Section  2  (point 
10),  the  Commission  intends  to  notify  draft  delegated  regulations  to  Members  of  the 

11   Expert group code E02854 

12   https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/list_of_enegy_labelling_measures_3.pdf.  Note 
that  one  further  energy  labelling  measure  has  been  adopted  amending  the  existing  regulations  as 
regards showing the energy label on the internet. 

13   http://www.prosafe.org/images/Documents/EEPLIANT/EEPPLIANT_Press_release_v2.pdf 

6 

 
                                                 
World Trade Organisation pursuant to the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade at 
an earlier stage in the process, in parallel with consulting the Consultation Forum.14 

For  electronic  products,  the  challenges  related  to  the  fast  development  of  the  market 
(Section 2, point 10) and the absence of a clear relationship between purchase price and 
energy  efficiency  merit  a  specific  in-depth  review.  The  Commission  plans  to  carry  out 
this review in the context of the upcoming evaluation of the EU Energy Star programme 
in 2016, by addressing also electronic equipment not covered by the programme. 

Finally,  the  Commission  will  continue  with  enhanced  communication  activities  around 
the  product-specific  ecodesign  and  energy  labelling  measures  in  an  effort  to  improve 
public knowledge and acceptance of the policy. 

14   Currently, the WTO is notified following the inter-service consultation in the Commission. Invitations 
to the regulatory committee and to the Energy Labelling expert group cannot be sent before the end of 
the 60-day WTO notification period. The process is thereby effectively placed on hold for three to four 
months due to the WTO notification. 

7