Hong Kong traders of electrical appliances and energy-related products may like to know that, on 5 and 6 May 2009, the European Parliament voted on several measures related to the way appliances sold on the EU market will have to indicate their energy efficiency levels. First, on 5 May 2009, the Parliament overwhelmingly approved proposed amendments to Directive 92/75/EEC that will ensure the continuation of a simple A-G efficiency rating system, with thresholds for each grade and product type updated regularly. Following this endorsement of the closed A-G system, the Parliament, on 6 May 2009, blocked a Commission decision which would have applied a more complex, and potentially misleading classification scheme for televisions, but allowed another Commission decision applying the complex scheme to household refrigerators and freezers.

The amendments to Directive 92/75/EEC approved by the Parliament will ensure that the present system of labelling (i.e., a lettered scale from A to G, with A being the most efficient category) will remain in use. The amended Directive initially proposed by the Commission would have omitted any reference to the A-G scale, allowing the Commission to implement differing classification scales for different products, which the Parliament thought could lead to consumer confusion, and potentially to misleading classifications.

In addition, the amended Directive approved by the Parliament would expand the Directive's scope. Directive 92/75/EEC only applies to energy-using household appliances, such as televisions, refrigerators and laundry machines, but it has widely been seen as necessary to include a broader range of products within the scope of a variety of energy-efficiency regulations. Thus, the Commission had initially proposed that the Directive's scope be expanded to cover commercial and industrial appliances, as well as products which, while they do not themselves consume energy, can have an effect on energy consumption. These so-called "energy-related" products would include, for instance, shower heads, which could be designed to lower the amount of water emitted, thereby lowering the amount of energy required to heat that water. The inclusion of these energy-related products in the amended Directive mirrors the recent decision of the Commission and Parliament to expand the scope of the eco-design Directive in the same way (see: Business Alert-EU issue 10/2009).

The Parliament, however, went even further than the Commission in its approved draft by expressly including construction products, such as windows, doors and insulation, within the scope of the draft and by specifying that, in order to fall within the scope, the product only need have an indirect effect on energy consumption, rather than a direct effect.

In addition to defining the categorisation scheme and expanding the product scope, the draft of the amended Directive approved by the Parliament increases the labelling obligations placed on manufacturers and traders by requiring that, in addition to placing a label specifying a product's energy efficiency category on the product's packaging, the same type of label must appear on technical documentation, user manuals and promotional materials, whether in print or online.

It should be noted that the amended Directive does not place any obligations on the manufacturers of any specific products, but rather sets out the framework for such obligations, which are to be developed by the Commission in subsequent implementing regulations. The amended Directive approved by the Parliament calls upon the Commission to create a list of high priority products which should be subject to new efficiency label requirements within six months of the entry into force of the amended Directive, with new implementing regulations on these products to follow within a few years thereafter. The Parliament's approved draft will now be forwarded to the Council for its first reading of the proposed amendments.

Despite the Parliament's clear support for the closed A-G categorisation scheme in the amended Directive, only one day later, the Parliament failed to muster sufficient support to block a Commission decision which would implement an alternate categorisation scheme for household refrigerators and freezers. It is clear that the outdated thresholds for the current letter categories for refrigerators and freezers have long been outdated (e.g., by 2000, more than 50% of refrigerators were A-grade), and the Commission proposed to rectify this situation by creating additional categories above A, including A-20%, A-40% and A-60%. These would indicate that the particular refrigerator or freezer consumes 20, 40 or 60% less energy than a refrigerator or freezer meeting the A threshold. The Commission's decision, while supported by industry stakeholders, met substantial opposition from many in the Parliament (which has the ability to block such decisions with resolution supported by a supermajority) who believed that the new categories would mislead consumers who might see an A grade and naturally believe that it was the most efficient grade. Despite this opposition, the resolution to block the Commission's decision narrowly failed to achieve the required supermajority.

Strangely, however, the Parliament did block a similar proposal regarding labelling of televisions. The Commission had adopted a decision which would implement the same A-20%, A-40% and A-60% categories for televisions as those adopted for refrigerators and freezers. However, while the Parliament was unable to muster sufficient votes to block the implementation of the scheme for refrigerators and freezers, there were enough votes to block the decision regarding televisions. As a result, the Commission will have to go back to the drawing-board and design new categories and thresholds for television labelling.