COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION of Articles 6 and 7 of the Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU) Accompanying the document Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2012/27/EU on Energy Efficiency
Date: 2016-11-30
Institutions: Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, award of contract, energy consumption, energy efficiency, energy law, energy saving, invitation to tender, national implementing measure

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 30.11.2016  SWD(2016) 403 final   COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION of Articles 6 and 7 of the Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU) Accompanying the document Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council  amending Directive 2012/27/EU on Energy Efficiency   {COM(2016) 761 final} {SWD(2016) 402 final}  
 
 
As  part  of  the  Energy  Union  Strategy,  the  Commission  carried  out  a  review  of  Directive 
2012/27/EU on energy efficiency (EED). Given the recent transposition date of the Directive 
(5 June 2014), this evaluation did not examine all aspects of the EED. It focussed on the two 
elements for which a review is explicitly required under Article 24: Article 6 (on purchasing 
by public bodies) and Article 7 (on efficiency obligation schemes / alternative measures).  

Evaluation of Article 6 

The  evaluation  of  the  effectiveness  of  Article 6  shows  that  it  is  too  early  to  judge  the 
achievement of the objectives of Article 6 due to the following reasons: 

  The recent transposition date and the fact that most Member States are still putting in 

place the necessary measures to implement Article 6 requirements. 

  Lack  of  expertise  on  the  operational  aspects  of  the  use  of  energy  efficiency  criteria 

within public procurement based on the requirement of Article 6. 

  Lack of data and of a reference scenario allowing quantification of progress in the rate 

of public procurement applying energy efficiency criteria. 

It is therefore premature to proceed to a legal revision of Article 6 of the EED.  

Policy  recommendations  of  this  evaluation  highlight  the  need  to  improve  guidance  to  the 
Member States on the use of the conditionalities and the energy efficiency criteria in public 
procurement. The knowledge base on certain operational aspects should be strengthened and 
more  synergies  between  national  purchasing  bodies  and  existing  EU-networks  on  public 
procurement should be developed to increase awareness and use of energy efficiency criteria.  

Evaluation of Article 7 

The evaluation of the implementation reveals that Member States are on track to achieve their 
savings requirements under Article 7, provided that the measures are effectively implemented 
by Member States and that robust monitoring and control systems are established.  

More specifically the results of the evaluation are as follows: 

  Energy  Efficiency  Obligation  Schemes  (EEOSs)  are  expected  to  generate  the  highest 
amount  of  savings  by  2020  of  a  single  measure  notified  under  Article  7  (34 %  or 
86.1 Mtoe).  Other  major  policy  measures  are  financing  schemes  and  fiscal  incentives 
(19 % or 49.0 Mtoe) followed by energy and CO2 tax measures (15 % or 34.4 Mtoe) and 
regulations and voluntary agreements (11 % or 27.1 Mtoe). 

  Despite initial start-up costs, the administrative costs to run the EEOSs are relatively low, 

although they can be expected to vary between Member States.  

  There is more evidence available on how the monitoring and verification systems work for 
the EEOS than for the alternative measures, including only limited evidence on the costs 
associated with the monitoring of alternative measures. 

  As  regards  the  existing  framework,  certain  requirements  (e.g.  additionality,  materiality 

and eligibility) require further clarification, simplification and/or guidance. 

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