Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/994 of 2 April 2024 laying down operational details of the product database established under Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 of the European Parliament and of the Council
Date: 2024-04-02
Institutions: Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission
Subjects: EU energy label, access to information, consumer information, database, information system, legal person, market approval, natural person, pneumatic tyre, supplier




L_202400994EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
L series













2024/994


2.4.2024







            COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2024/994
of 2 April 2024
         
laying down operational details of the product database established under Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 of the European Parliament and of the Council
(Text with EEA relevance)


THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,


Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2017 setting a framework for energy labelling and repealing Directive 2010/30/EU (1), and in particular Article 12(12) thereof,

Whereas:







(1)


In line with Article 12 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369, the Commission put in place the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling (EPREL) system to establish a product database. The EPREL system consists of two parts: a public system providing free access to public information on product models placed on the Union market, and a compliance system where suppliers provide both the public and the technical information on those product models, and that can be accessed by Member State market surveillance authorities.












(2)


The EPREL system provides information about energy-related products covered by delegated Regulations adopted under Regulation (EU) 2017/1369, under Directive 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (2) and, about tyres, under Regulation (EU) 2020/740 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3).












(3)


To guarantee the authenticity of information and ensure it comes from bona fide sources, a system to verify identity and entitlement to register products models in EPREL has to be put in place. Because of the thousands of suppliers in different Member States registering product models in EPREL, the verification of their identity in accordance with relevant EU legislation and international standards should be done electronically. As defined in Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369, suppliers must be established in the Union. Evidence of the establishment of the supplier within the Union should be provided electronically as well. Only suppliers that have successfully completed the verification process in EPREL, proving their identity and their country of establishment, should be able to register new product models, modify existing registrations or perform any other action on models registered by them.












(4)


Practices, standards and legislation exist to electronically verify the identity of legal persons and of natural persons. Moreover, proof of the establishment of suppliers within the Union should be provided by evidence from a Member State’s business or trade register, in accordance with Article 16 of Directive (EU) 2017/1132 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) (‘business register’). Proof of establishment should also be verified by a qualified trust services provider (QTSP) via a certificate in line with Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) (eIDAS) .












(5)


The condition of a supplier being either a natural person or a legal person should be understood in line with national legislation. Suppliers should carry out the electronic verification process with a view to providing evidence of their identity and establishment in the Union in order to register the relevant models before placing any unit of those product models on the Union market.












(6)


Natural persons should be considered suppliers in EPREL only if they provide evidence of the exercise of an economic activity compatible with placing products on the Union market and if they prove their establishment in the Union. Qualified electronic signatures in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, for natural persons acting as suppliers, may be accepted as a way to successfully complete the electronic supplier verification process. However, as qualified electronic signatures do not provide evidence of establishment of a natural person in a Member State, natural persons should anyhow provide such evidence of their establishment within the Union, for their professional activity. This should be done via their registration in a Member State’s business or trade register or in a professional association register that enables them to exercise a profession and which can be confirmed by a competent authority or a qualified trust service provider.












(7)


A qualified electronic signature from a natural person acting as the legal representative of a legal person should not be acceptable for the verification of that legal person to act as supplier, as it does not provide proof of establishment in the Union of that legal person. EN 319 412-1 standard includes syntax and semantics for the qualified electronic seals and qualified signatures as set out in Regulation (EU) No 910/2014.












(8)


Qualified trust service providers should have a reasonable time, from the date of application of this Regulation, to adapt, if necessary, their procedures and software to generate qualified certificates for electronic seals that include the information necessary to verify both the identity of suppliers and their establishment within the EU. After such a time, only qualified certificates for electronic seals including proof of establishment in the Union should be accepted for the EPREL verification process. If the legal person is in the scope of Directive (EU) 2017/1132, the registration number and the register identifier should correspond to the European unique identifier (EUID) in the context of the system of interconnection of registers referred to in that Directive, also known as the Business Registers Interconnection System (BRIS) (6).












(9)


An additional and later deadline should be set to allow legal persons that had already completed the verification, including voluntarily before the date of application of this Regulation, with a qualified electronical seal not containing the registration number in a national business register, to provide a new qualified electronic seal supported by a qualified certificate for electronic seal containing it. After the additional deadline has passed, suppliers not having provided evidence of establishment within the Union should become ‘unverified suppliers’.












(10)


For security and reliability of the information made available by EPREL, any product model registered by a person that is still unverified after the deadline foreseen in this Regulation, or becomes unverified on the basis of the provisions of this Regulation, should not be listed in search results on the EPREL public website. When scanning a QR code on a label related to such a model, a message indicating this situation should be displayed. The model should remain visible in the compliance part, where the supplier status is also visible to Member State market surveillance authorities.












(11)


EPREL should process a limited amount of personal data for suppliers registering models, representing the bare minimum guaranteeing that models information entered into the database by third parties is from a bona fide source (authenticity) and that it is possible to identify an economic operator established in the Union against which enforcement can be ensured. Any personal data entered in the database should be processed exclusively in line with the objective of the Commission to carry out its tasks of maintenance of the database and to provide support to market surveillance authorities in the performance of their tasks. Personal data required for the user profiles should not duplicate those created or provided to have access to any Commission electronic data resource.












(12)


To strengthen the functioning of EPREL, national market surveillance authorities may need to have direct contact with suppliers to ask for additional technical information or to remedy cases of non-compliance. Suppliers should therefore provide a specific contact point in the compliance part of EPREL for every product model.












(13)


In order to ensure an adequate level of protection of end users in the Union, suppliers should indicate a contact point for the public offering customer support. A different contact point for any region, country or linguistic area may be provided.












(14)


Provision by suppliers of contact points, should not involve the provision of personal data, as the individual performing this particular task for the supplier may change over time. Generic contact details, such as a functional mailbox and telephone number of the service, should be provided to ensure continuity over time of the contact points in EPREL and to limit the processing of personal data.












(15)


Because of the potential sensitivity of non-public data and documentation associated with recorded models, user accounts of market surveillance authorities should allow the identification of the individual administering these accounts. After the person does not perform this professional task anymore, any personal data should be deleted except where retention is necessary to ensure traceability under Article 12(8) point (e) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369. Similarly, personal data associated to suppliers’ user accounts should be deleted by the supplier or by the Commission at the latest one year after the account has been blocked, provided that it is still possible to legally identify the supplier and the user has not performed operations to be logged.












(16)


Entities that did not pass the verification before the deadline foreseen in this Regulation should be able to transfer their registered product models to a verified supplier which is to take over the responsibilities related to those models. That transfer may be also possible for any verified supplier in case of organisational changes such as merging, splitting or sale of all or parts of the supplier, cessation of activities or other circumstances.












(17)


Technical information may possibly contain confidential data and the content may be covered by intellectual property rights. National authorities should therefore limit access to this information on a need-to-know basis.












(18)


An individual, acting on behalf of the supplier he or she is working for, should register as an ‘EPREL supplier’ and manage the full verification process before any model can be registered. For legal persons, that same individual should also be allowed to manage the user profile creation and access rights for additional individuals for the same supplier.












(19)


The Commission should be entitled to review the situation of suppliers, in particular for modifications resulting from their registration in national public registers and should be entitled to solicit an update of any relevant change if not spontaneously communicated by the means of a renewed certificate.












(20)


Non-responsive suppliers, possibly having closed their business or gone into bankruptcy or in analogous situations, should be considered as unverified. The date of end of placing on the market of all their registered models should be set by the EPREL system, and should be marked as set by the system.












(21)


It is appropriate to facilitate consumer choice by ensuring correct identification and differentiation of the products in EPREL, including in view of public procurement under Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7). This should be done by offering suppliers the possibility to voluntarily enter the values of relevant parameters, not included in the product information sheet, such as the Global Trade Item Number, the Member State(s) in which they place units of a product model on the market, or smart readiness related information. In duly justified cases, parameters necessary to distinguish between different models with a different intended use could be added. Those additional parameters should be included in EPREL after consulting the relevant stakeholders. Those parameters should not increase the burden on the supplier and on the market surveillance activity and should be not part of the compliance assessment and compliance verification.












(22)


When registering a model, the supplier does not need to already indicate an end date of placing it on the market. However, in accordance with Article 4(4) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369, suppliers should indicate in the database when they no longer place on the market units of a model. The registration of the model should therefore be updated with that information within a reasonable time once the supplier has taken the decision to no longer place units of that model on the market. The end date for placing them on the market is also a possible reference for the obligations on availability of spare parts, software, firmware updates and any similar obligation set out in the Regulation for that product group adopted under Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (8). The dates of the placing and of the end of placing on the market should be publicly accessible in EPREL.












(23)


Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 requires dealers to visibly display the supplier’s label, including for online distance selling, and to make the product information sheet available to customers. Specific requirements in relation to the information to be provided in visual advertisements, in technical promotional material, in distance selling and in telemarketing, including distance selling through the internet, are also set on a product group specific basis. To facilitate compliance with these obligations, suppliers should communicate to dealers or to distributors the EPREL registration number necessary to electronically retrieve the correct label and the product information sheet, which is available in all official languages in EPREL.












(24)


When dealers display the supplier’s label, particularly if not displaying the label provided in the box, but a copy of it, they should ensure that the QR code, where present, is visible and readable, so that consumers can retrieve the relevant information in EPREL and make use of mobile applications to perform comparisons.












(25)


Suppliers may use automated systems for bulk upload of many model registrations at once, using a specific data structure and semantics, called ‘data exchange model’, provided by the Commission. A change in the data exchange model by the Commission may involve a software development and testing activity by the supplier or by its service provider, for which reasonable notice should be provided.












(26)


It is appropriate to provide suppliers and market surveillance authorities with technical support to use EPREL. Therefore, in addition to guidelines and instructions to be made available via the online portal, a helpdesk service should be available during Commission working days, at least between 9:00 and 17:00 Central European Time (CET) or Central European Summer Time (CEST), as relevant. Suppliers should be provided with clear and correct information on helpdesk service availability days.












(27)


The information relevant for end users and dealers should be made publicly available in the public part of EPREL as open data, to facilitate comparison tools for end users. Easy direct access to the public part of EPREL should be facilitated by tools enabling software components to communicate with each other, using a set of definitions and protocols, such as Application Programming Interfaces (API).












(28)


The Commission should be able to take the necessary action if it identifies fraudulent activity in EPREL, which may include inappropriate downloading of information.












(29)


The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(2) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (9) and delivered an opinion on 14 December 2023.












(30)


The Consultation Forum established pursuant to Article 14(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 was consulted.












(31)


The measures provided for in this Regulation are in agreement with the opinion of the committee established by Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369,





HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:



Article 1

Subject matter and scope


1.   This Regulation sets out operational details for the functioning of the product database established in line with Article 12 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 and detailed rules applying to suppliers placing on the Union market:






(a)


energy-related products covered by delegated acts supplementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 and Directive 2010/30/EU;










(b)


tyres covered by Regulation (EU) 2020/740 or by delegated acts supplementing it.






2.   Those operational details and rules relate to:






(a)


the verification process that allows natural persons and legal persons to become verified suppliers and to ensure confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of the information registered by them;










(b)


information required to register product models;










(c)


data exchange models and software release management;










(d)


availability of the system and of the data.







Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the definitions in points (5) ‘authentication’, (12) ‘qualified electronic signature’, (19) ‘trust service provider’, (20) ‘qualified trust service provider’, (27) ‘qualified electronic seal’ and (30) ‘qualified certificate for electronic seal’ of Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 and in point (16) ‘distributor’ of Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2020/740 shall apply.
The following definitions also apply:






(1)


‘EPREL’ or ‘European Product Registry for Energy Labelling’ means the product database established and maintained by the Commission in line with Article 12 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369;










(2)


‘verification process’ means the process by which a natural person or legal person provides evidence of identity and of establishment in the Union, entitling them to register products in EPREL;










(3)


‘Business Register Identifier’ or ‘Register ID’ means the alphanumerical code assigned by a Member State’s authority, or someone acting on its behalf, to the particular section or office of the business register assigning the business registration number to natural persons or legal persons performing a professional activity, such as business or trade. If the legal person is in the scope of Directive (EU) 2017/1132, such number shall be part of the unique identifier (EUID) referred to in Article 16(1) of the same Directive and in point 9 of the Annex to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1042 (10);










(4)


‘Business Registration Number’ means the alphanumerical code, attributed by a business register at national level to the legal person or to the natural person performing a professional activity and providing evidence of its identity and its establishment in the Member State where the register is established. If the person is in the scope of Directive (EU) 2017/1132, such number shall be part of the unique identifier (EUID) referred to in Article 16(1) of the same Directive and in point 9 of the Annex to the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1042;










(5)


‘verified supplier’ means an EPREL supplier that has successfully completed the supplier verification process in the EPREL compliance system according to Articles 4, 5 and 6;










(6)


‘unverified supplier’ means an EPREL supplier that has not yet successfully completed the supplier verification process in the EPREL compliance system, including those not having renewed the qualified electronic seal within the required deadline;










(7)


‘EPREL supplier’ means a natural person or legal person in its capacity to act as a supplier for registering product models in the product database;










(8)


‘data exchange model’ means an XML model used to define the data structure and semantics of the product data, by means of the XML markup language and which permits the data import of the product model’s parameter values from a supplier’s database to the product database;










(9)


‘EPREL compliance system’ means the database and the software for managing its content, accessible via the EPREL compliance website subject to user authentication, enabling suppliers to register both public and compliance data in the product database and also enabling Member State’s market surveillance authorities to perform their activities;










(10)


‘EPREL compliance website’ means the website providing access to the product database for compliance verification purposes, requiring user registration and authentication, where only Member State’s market surveillance authorities and Commission staff have access to any public and technical information of registered product models and to the EPREL supplier information;










(11)


‘EPREL public system’ means the database and the software for accessing its content, freely accessible via the EPREL public website, enabling visitors to consult the public data of any registered product model since its date of placing on the market;










(12)


‘EPREL public website’ means the freely accessible website enabling visitors to consult the public data of any registered product model since its date of placing on the market;










(13)


‘API’ or ‘Application Programming Interface’ means a set of definitions and protocols for building and integrating application software to share data;










(14)


‘business register’ or ‘trade register’ means a Member State’s national public sector body attributing business registration numbers to natural persons or legal persons performing a professional activity such as business or trade and providing evidence of their establishment in the Member State where the national public sector body is established;










(15)


‘GTIN’ or ‘Global Trade Item Number’ means a unique and internationally recognised identifier attributed by the GS1 international organization, used to identify trade items to facilitate accurate identification. GTINs can be encoded as barcode tags, affixed to products or to their packaging, or as Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) tags;










(16)


‘date of placing on the market’ means the date of placing on the market of the first unit of a product model;










(17)


‘date of end of placing on the market’ means the date of placing on the market of the last unit of a product model;










(18)


‘registered model’ or ‘registered product model’ means a model of a product, whose parameter values have been entered into EPREL. The registered model may not necessarily be publicly visible;










(19)


‘EPREL compliance production system’ means a copy of the compliance system, where the latest software versions are installed by the Commission and where suppliers register the real product models before placing them on the market;










(20)


‘EPREL compliance acceptance system’ means a system where the latest software versions of the compliance production system are installed by the Commission and where the suppliers can register a dummy supplier and dummy product models for testing purposes. Any new software version is first made available on this system and only made available on the EPREL compliance production system after the relevant test and acceptance period has elapsed;










(21)


‘transfer protocol’ means the protocol for electronic communication over the internet to securely exchange information between the computer systems of the supplier and of the Commission;










(22)


‘online portal’ means the website giving access to the public part and to the compliance part of EPREL and containing the information set out in point 2 of Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 and other relevant information on energy efficiency of products (11);










(23)


‘NTR’ means the acronym for identification based on an identifier from a national trade register, as in paragraph 5.1.4 of EN 319 412-1.






Article 3

Verification requirement for suppliers


1.   Suppliers of products specified in Article 1(1) points (a) and (b) shall be verified suppliers.


2.   Only verified suppliers may register product models in EPREL and perform any modification relating to existing ones. This applies to both legal persons and to natural persons.



Article 4

Verification of legal persons


1.   Suppliers that are legal persons shall submit evidence of their identity and of their establishment within the Union by means of a qualified electronic seal supported by a qualified certificate for electronic seal, issued by a qualified trust service provider pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 910/2014. An electronic signature of the authorised representative of a supplier which is a legal person shall not be accepted because it does not provide evidence of the establishment in the Union of that legal person.


2.   The qualified certificate for electronic seal, supporting the qualified electronic seal shall contain the legal person’s name precisely as registered in a Member State’s business register, including any space, punctuation or other special character(s). The certificate shall be compliant with EN 319 412-1 and with EN 319 412-3.


3.   The ‘Subject’ field present in the qualified certificate for electronic seal shall have an ‘organizationIdentifier’ attribute that shall contain information using the following structure and order:






(a)


three-character legal person identity type reference set to the value ‘NTR’;










(b)


two-character ISO 3166 (12) country code, indicating the country of establishment;










(c)


hyphen-minus sign ‘-’ (U+002D);










(d)


the identifier according to the identity type reference for ‘NTR’ using the following structure and order, specified in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1042 as the European Unique Identifier (EUID):






(i)


the Business Register Identifier, for the particular section or office of the public register having attributed the business registration number to the legal person in question;










(ii)


dot-sign ‘.’ (U+002E);










(iii)


the Business Registration Number, as attributed to the legal person by the national business register in point (i) above.




The Country code, part of the EUID and preceding the abovementioned three fields, as well the verification digit, are optional.






4.   Natural persons, who register models of suppliers that are legal persons, shall not undertake the electronic verification process in place of those legal persons.



Article 5

Verification of natural persons


1.   Suppliers that are natural persons shall submit evidence of their identity by means of a qualified electronic signature.


2.   The qualified certificate for electronic signature supporting the qualified electronic signature shall contain the natural person’s name as registered in the Member State’s business or trade register, including any space, punctuation or other special character(s). The certificate shall be compliant with EN 319 412-1 and with EN 319 412-2.


3.   A supplier that is a natural person shall also submit evidence of its own establishment within the Union and, if appropriate, of having received a written mandate as authorised representative of a manufacturer not established in the Union, to act on its behalf for registering in EPREL product models of that manufacturer, by means of the following additional information:






(a)


the Business Register Identifier, for the particular section or office of the public register which assigned the business or trade register number to the natural person in question at national level;










(b)


the Business Registration Number, as attributed to the natural person at national level;










(c)


a written mandate by the manufacturer(s) listing all brand/trademarks for which the mandate applies.
The abovementioned information in points (a) and (b) shall be communicated in a document:






(i)


digitally signed by the natural person;










(ii)


digitally sealed or digitally signed by the competent authority responsible at national level for the business or trade register or, in the impossibility of this, digitally sealed with confirmation of the truthfulness by a qualified trust service provider.




The abovementioned information in point (c) shall be communicated in a document:






(i)


digitally sealed by each of the non EU manufacturer(s); or










(ii)


digitally signed by the legal representative(s) of those non EU manufacturer(s).











Article 6

Transitional measures to complete electronic verification by legal persons


1.   In derogation to points (a) and (d) of Article 4(3) and until 22 April 2025, suppliers that are legal persons may submit a qualified electronic seal where the three-character legal person identity type reference may be set to one of the following values:






(a)


‘VAT’ for identification based on a national value added tax identification number;










(b)


‘PSD’ for identification based on national authorization number of a payment service provider under Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council (13) (Payments Services Directive);










(c)


‘LEI’ for a global Legal Person Identifier as specified in ISO 17442 (14). The 2-character ISO 3166-1 country code shall be set to ‘XG’;










(d)


two characters according to local definition within the specified country and name registration authority, identifying a national scheme that is considered appropriate for national and European level, followed by the character ‘:’ (colon).
The identifier (according to country and identity type reference) has to be in coherence to the three-character legal person identity type reference used.






2.   By 22 April 2027, suppliers that have been verified with an electronic seal according to the format set under paragraph 1 shall renew their verification by providing a qualified electronic seal as set out in Article 4.



Article 7

Product models registered by unverified suppliers


1.   Models registered in EPREL by entities not verified shall not be listed in the search results in public EPREL website. When such a model is retrieved from EPREL by scanning a QR code or by any other means a text shall indicate that the model was registered by an unverified supplier.


2.   The information on models registered by unverified suppliers shall not be exported by the means of application programming interfaces or by other export features.


3.   The information and its accessibility in the compliance part remains unchanged.



Article 8

Public and compliance contact points of suppliers


1.   Suppliers shall identify in the public part of EPREL, as their public contact point, the contact details of the department or sector which ensures communication with the public in relation to product use and support, including a generic email address not containing personal data. Additional contact points may be made available from the supplier website, for different geographical or linguistic areas or countries.


2.   Suppliers shall also identify in the compliance part of EPREL, as their compliance contact point, the contact details of the department or sector that ensures cooperation with market surveillance authorities, including a telephone number, a physical address within the EU and a generic email address not containing personal data.


3.   Different contact points may be provided for each product model and in the public and compliance parts.


4.   The supplier is responsible for the correctness and shall update the details of the provided contact points.



Article 9

Transfer of registered models between suppliers

Registered product models may be transferred to a verified supplier that takes over the obligations from the previous supplier in relation to those product models from the date indicated for the transfer.


Article 10

Access to EPREL by market surveillance authorities


1.   Member States market surveillance authorities shall have access to the EPREL compliance part via a single national administrator who shall be the only official contact person for the Commission.


2.   Member States market surveillance authorities shall communicate to the Commission the name and contact details of the single national administrator and any change of it. They may further delegate access rights under their own full responsibility in consideration of the security, integrity and confidentiality of the data.


3.   Personal data included in the market surveillance authority’s user profiles shall be managed by the Commission in line with the Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and shall be deleted when the relevant EPREL account is deleted unless the user has performed operations that need to be logged for the purposes of traceability of access to suppliers’ technical documentation.



Article 11

Management of supplier user profiles and verification


1.   Each supplier shall be responsible for the management of the access rights to their own data by members of its own EPREL supplier organisation. At least one user shall be appointed as being responsible for the supplier and for managing other user profiles and their access rights.


2.   Any personal data which is entered as part of the supplier user’s profile will be dealt with in accordance with the Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.


3.   Users’ personal data shall be deleted simultaneously to the deletion of their users’ account, unless:






(a)


these data are necessary to legally identify the supplier;










(b)


they are necessary to track access to technical model information.






4.   An EPREL supplier user profile that is inactive for over one year, after a double email alert, shall be blocked, unless the user profile is the only responsible for the supplier. Personal information of the user shall be deleted automatically one year after the day of blocking the account unless:






(a)


keeping these data is necessary to legally identify the supplier;










(b)


the user has performed operations that need to be logged in accordance with article 12 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369.






5.   The supplier shall be responsible for managing the electronic verification process.


6.   The supplier shall be responsible for ensuring that the EPREL supplier data is updated in case of any relevant change, including any change of the legal representative.


7.   The Commission may review at regular intervals the information associated to the verification process. If the information no longer corresponds to what is registered in EPREL, the Commission shall request the supplier to pass the verification process again within three months.


8.   A previously verified supplier shall lose status of ‘verified’ if it appears to be inactive based on activity logs for over one year and is not responsive after a double email alert. Article 7 applies in such a case.


9.   Where a supplier has lost its status of verified supplier in accordance with paragraph 8 above, the date of end of placing on the market of all its registered models shall be set by the EPREL system, and marked as set by the system.



Article 12

Parameters necessary to identify or differentiate product models


1.   For each registered product model, the Commission may provide suppliers the possibility of voluntarily providing values for the following parameters, when not already included in the specific Delegated Regulation on the product group under Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 or in Regulation (EU) 2020/740:






(a)


the GTIN, where applicable;










(b)


the Member States where they place their products on the market;










(c)


in duly justified cases and after consultation of stakeholders, other parameters not part of the conformity assessment by the supplier and of the compliance verification by market surveillance authorities, which are necessary, in line with provision as from Article 12(11) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369;










(d)


information of the kind referred to in Article 16(3) point (d) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369.






2.   Parameters which are listed in paragraph 1 above may be made available in the EPREL public website as information complementary to the Product Information Sheet.



Article 13

Placing and end of placing on the market of product models


1.   The registration by a supplier of a product model in EPREL shall be deemed completed only after all the following parameter values have been entered and the relevant documents have been uploaded in EPREL for each model:






(a)


all values related to the parameters and documents required under Regulation (EU) 2017/1369, Regulation (EU) 2020/740 or any delegated act adopted under those regulations applicable to the product;










(b)


the date of placing on the market of the first unit of the particular model.






2.   The EPREL compliance system shall confirm the completeness of the parameter values entered as part of the registration of the model.


3.   The date and time of placing on the market is determined based on Central European Time (CET) or Central European Summer Time (CEST), as applicable.


4.   As from the date under paragraph 3 above, the information entered by the supplier shall become accessible to market surveillance authorities and the public part shall become public.


5.   The date of end of placing on the market of each product model may be entered as a future date or shall be entered in EPREL within 90 days after its occurrence and may be changed or deleted by the supplier in case the model continues to be placed on the market.



Article 14

Facilitating access to model registrations in EPREL


1.   In order to facilitate the display of labels or its class and range, including in online distance selling, in visual advertisement, in technical promotional material and on the internet, suppliers shall communicate the EPREL model registration number to dealers or to distributors, as applicable.


2.   To allow for the consultation of a model’s registration in EPREL, the dealer or the distributor shall ensure that the QR code is readable when putting a product model or tyre in display for sale.



Article 15

Data exchange model and software release management


1.   Suppliers shall register product models either by using the interactive EPREL compliance website or by uploading the model data using the latest version of the data exchange model available. This applies, in particular, to the information in the tables on the product information sheet and to technical information in the relevant delegated act.


2.   Any modification in the data exchange model, if requiring modifications of the software used by suppliers, shall be announced by the Commission and made available for preliminary testing in the EPREL compliance acceptance system at least two months before it is deployed in the EPREL compliance production system.


3.   Advanced notice is only required if the change involves a malfunction or error on the supplier’s side or any incorrect data upload in the EPREL compliance system.


4.   The obligation to upload product model data using a new data exchange model shall only apply to the registration of new models.


5.   Any modification in the transfer protocol requiring modifications of the software used by suppliers shall be announced by the Commission and made available, duly documented, in the EPREL compliance acceptance system at least four months before it is deployed in the EPREL compliance production system.



Article 16

Maintenance, system availability and data availability


1.   The Commission shall make available, via the online portal, the guidelines and instructions on how to register and manage models in the EPREL compliance system.


2.   The Commission shall provide a helpdesk service to ensure suppliers and market surveillance authorities receive technical support. The helpdesk service shall be available during Commission working days and during normal working hours, as determined yearly in the Commission Decision on public holidays for staff of the European institutions in Brussels and Luxembourg. Those working days shall be published on the online portal. However, technical support for urgent requests shall be ensured between 27 and 31 December.


3.   Written exchanges between suppliers and the helpdesk shall be stored for six months after the issue has been closed and made available to market surveillance authorities upon request.


4.   The Commission may suspend the availability of the compliance system or of the EPREL public system, without prior notice, as result of a malfunction or of a cyber-attack or any urgent security measure and keep the systems inaccessible until a safe situation is re-established.


5.   In case registration is prevented by temporary unavailability or malfunctioning of the EPREL compliance system, the Commission shall record data and time of unavailability and keep a record of the unavailability and make it available to market surveillance authorities and suppliers upon request for not less than five years.


6.   Both the compliance and the EPREL public systems shall be accessible at all times, except during necessary and previously announced periods of maintenance activities, such as deployment of new software releases. The Commission shall issue an advance notice of inaccessibility on the compliance website or on the public website, as applicable.


7.   Neither the Commission nor suppliers shall be held liable for any loss of data entered in EPREL resulting from causes independent of their will.



Article 17

Public data availability

The Commission shall make the public parameter values, label and product information sheet of registered models available by the means of Application Programming Interfaces (API), subject to acceptance of terms of use.


Article 18

Inappropriate or fraudulent use of EPREL

Where the Commission identifies inappropriate or fraudulent activity, including linked to massive data download, it shall take the necessary measures to avoid abuse of EPREL.


Article 19

Personal data


1.   The following personal data shall be stored in EPREL to ensure the verification of identity of suppliers:






(a)


first and last name of the person legally entitled to act as a legal representative for the supplier;










(b)


professional email address.






2.   Users of EPREL accounts for suppliers and for market surveillance authorities shall provide the following information:






(a)


first and last name;










(b)


professional email address.






3.   Personal data collected by virtue of the present Regulation shall be processed in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 as applicable.



Article 20

Entry into force and application

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
It shall apply from the same day. Articles 3, 4, 5, 7, 11 and 15 shall apply from 22 October 2024.




This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 2 April 2024.


For the Commission


The President

Ursula VON DER LEYEN
            





(1)  
            OJ L 198, 28.7.2017, p. 1.

(2)  Directive 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the indication by labelling and standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by energy-related products (OJ L 153, 18.6.2010, p. 1).

(3)  Regulation (EU) 2020/740 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 2020 on the labelling of tyres with respect to fuel efficiency and other parameters, amending Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1222/2009 (OJ L 177, 5.6.2020, p. 1).

(4)  Directive (EU) 2017/1132 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 relating to certain aspects of company law (codification) (OJ L 169, 30.6.2017, p. 46).

(5)  Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC (OJ L 257, 28.8.2014, p. 73).

(6)  https://e-justice.europa.eu/489/EN/business_registers__search_for_a_company_in_the_eu

(7)  Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2020 on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment (OJ L 198, 22.6.2020, p. 13).

(8)  Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-related products (OJ L 285, 31.10.2009, p. 10).

(9)  Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).

(10)  Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1042 of 18 June 2021 laying down rules for the application of Directive (EU) 2017/1132 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards technical specifications and procedures for the system of interconnection of registers and repealing Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2244 (OJ L 225, 25.6.2021, p. 7).

(11)  https://energy-efficient-products.ec.europa.eu/

(12)  ISO 3166-1: ‘Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 1: Country code’.

(13)  Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC (OJ L 337, 23.12.2015, p. 35).

(14)  ISO 17442: ‘Financial services – Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)’.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2024/994/oj
ISSN 1977-0677 (electronic edition)