5 Eco-design requirements for energy-using
products
| (24833)
12082/03
COM(03) 453
| Draft Directive on establishing a framework for the setting of eco-design requirements for energy-using products and amending Council Directive 92/42/EEC.
|
| Legal base | Article 95EC; co-decision; QMV
|
| Document originated | 1 August 2003
|
| Deposited in Parliament | 8 September 2003
|
| Department | Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
|
| Basis of consideration | EM of 16 September 2003
|
| Previous Committee Report | None
|
| To be discussed in Council | No date set
|
| Committee's assessment | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information requested
|
Background
5.1 According to the Commission, it is generally acknowledged
that energy-using products can have significant environmental
impact, and that, unlike other products, their actual use (as
opposed to their production and disposal) plays an over-riding
part in that impact. The Commission also says that over 80% of
the impact is determined by product design, and it believes that
the most effective way of introducing improvements is to integrate
environmental considerations as early as possible into the product
development process. It has therefore put forward in this document
a proposal for a framework Directive, aimed at achieving this.
The current proposal
5.2 The Commission recalls that sustainable development is one
of the Community's major policy goals, and that the Treaty requires
environmental considerations to be integrated into other policies
and activities. It notes that, in addition to enhancing environmental
protection, setting requirements for energy-using products has
an internal market dimension and would help to reduce dependence
on energy resources,. At the same time, however, it acknowledges
that any legislative action needs to be based on adequate scientific
knowledge and practical experience. For that reason, it is advocating
that the proposed Directive should set the general principles
and criteria for the establishment of eco-design requirements,
but leave the development and adoption of implementing measures
for individual products to the Commission (with the assistance
of a regulatory committee, made up of representatives of the Member
States). The Commission also says that the Directive should circumscribe
very clearly the limits within which the implementing measures
can be adopted, and it stresses that any proposals for an implementing
measure would be preceded by consultation and an impact assessment,
and that no legal obligations would arise for manufacturers unless
such a measure was agreed.
5.3 More specifically, the proposed Directive —
which would cover all energy sources and all energy-using products
apart from vehicles — would require Member States on the
one hand to ensure that any product covered by an implementing
measure is placed on the market only if it complies with the conditions
laid down, whilst on the other hand to avoid the creation of any
obstacle to products which have been the subject of a declaration
of conformity and bear the appropriate Community mark. It would
also set out the criteria governing the choice of product to be
covered by an implementing measure, and the environmental aspects
which may be dealt with in this way. The former would include
the need for a product to represent a significant volume of sales,
to have a significant environmental impact, and to provide a significant
potential for environmental improvement without entailing excessive
costs; whilst the latter would include the likely consumption
of raw materials, energy and other resources (such as fresh water),
anticipated emissions to air, water or soil, any pollution likely
to arise through physical effects (such as noise, vibration, radiation,
and electromagnetic fields), the expected generation of waste
material, and the possibility of materials or energy used being
recycled. The proposal would, however, regard as implementing
measures in their own right the steps already taken under Community
law to regulate the energy efficiency during use of domestic hot-water
boilers and refrigerators, and ballasts for fluorescent lighting[18].
The Government's view
5.4 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 16 September
2003, the Minister for Food, Farming and Sustainable Energy at
the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)
says that the proposed Directive is consistent with the Government's
policy objectives of reducing the environmental impact of products
and improving their energy efficiency, and of extending the concept
of producer responsibility within the wider framework of Integrated
Product Policy. He adds that the Government is committed to seeking
cost-effective ways of achieving targets for reducing emissions
in support of its climate change and energy policies, where it
has already supported a range of related Community policy measures[19]
which aim to raise energy efficiency standards for traded goods,
and where — as set out in its recent Energy White Paper[20]
— its approach includes a commitment to work proactively
to influence and speed up the delivery of such measures. The Minister
also notes that, in addition to the measures referred to in paragraph
5.3 above, the Directive would complement Directive 92/75/EEC
on the energy labelling of household appliances, existing commitments
by industry covering digital television services, external power
supplies and consumer electronics, the waste electrical and electronic
equipment directive, and a range of other environmental product
information.
5.5 The Minister comments that, since any legal obligations
on manufacturers would arise only when implementing measures have
been adopted, a Regulatory Impact Assessment is not required at
this stage. However, he adds that experience to date in relation
to existing measures is that engagement with industry at an early
stage enables policy effectiveness to be achieved at a very low
cost to Government, industry and consumers (and that the latter
have in fact benefited from the energy savings from more efficient
products). On the other hand, he suggests that the credibility
and outcome of such policy measures, which intentionally increases
commercial pressure to deliver improved products, may depend increasingly
on effective enforcement activity, which may have cost implications.
Conclusion
5.6 Given the potential environmental benefits
from improving the design of energy-using products, there seems
a reasonable justification for the Community agreeing a framework
measure of the sort proposed here. However, we note that, unlike
the measures referred to at the end of paragraph 5.3, these measures
would be taken by the Commission, rather than the Council, and,
although they would have to comply with fairly tightly defined
parameters, the approach differs from that in certain other areas,
such as air quality, where so-called "daughter" Directives
have been adopted by the Council. We would, therefore, be interested
to know whether the Government is content with this distinction,
and, if so, why a different approach in these two areas is thought
to be appropriate. In the meantime, we are holding the document
under scrutiny.
18 These are respectively, Directives 92/42/EEC, 96/57/EC
and 2000/55/EC. Back
19
These include eco-labelling, mandatory energy labelling, minimum
energy efficiency standards, and industry self-commitments. Back
20
Cm 5761. Back
|
