On May 9 2012 the Official Journal published EU Regulation 392/2012(1) on the energy labelling of household tumble dryers. The regulation is part of the implementing measures called for by the EU Energy Labelling Directive (2010/30/EU).
The directive is aimed at providing consumers with the relevant information to enable them to choose appliances on the basis of their energy and resource efficiency. To achieve this, the directive has reformed the energy scales introduced in earlier legislation by adding three supplementary scales: A+, A++ and A+++. Such additions were deemed necessary as the existing categories failed to distinguish between energy efficient and very energy efficient products.
Furthermore, the directive imposes supplementary information requirements on both suppliers and dealers:
- the need to produce technical documentation that is sufficient to ensure the accuracy of the information on the product labels, and to keep this information available for a period of five years;
- the need for suppliers to provide the necessary energy labels to dealers; and
- the need for suppliers to provide a product fiche in all product brochures.
The directive also calls on the commission to develop exact definitions of the types of product to be included in the framework of the directive. In the regulation, the commission fulfils this task for the product category of 'household tumble dryers' or, more precisely, for "electric mains-operated and gas-fired household tumble driers and built-in household tumble driers, including those sold for non-household use".
The regulation does not apply to household combined washer-dryers, as these are dealt with in the EU Directive 96/60/EC, or to household spin-dryers.
The aim of the regulation is to make concrete the requirements laid down by the Energy Labelling Directive, insofar as they apply to household tumble dryers.
In that regard, Annex VI of the regulation precisely prescribes the thresholds that household tumble dryers need to meet in order to acquire a certain energy label – A+++ (most efficient) to D (least efficient) – as determined in accordance with the methods and formulae set out in Annex VII.
In the annexes, the regulation sets out in detail what kind of information must appear on the printed label and the product fiche for household tumble dryers, in addition to when and how the information must be provided.
In particular, the annexes set out the following:
- sample labels for:
- air-vented household tumble dryers;
- condenser household tumble dryers; and
- gas-fired household tumble dryers;
- the required information to be included on the respective labels, in addition to the required dimensions, colours and fonts of the labels;
- the information requirements of the product fiche;
- the information requirements of the technical documentation to be provided by the suppliers;
- information to be provided in cases where end-users cannot be expected to see the product on display;
- the verification procedure for authorities to ensure compliance with the regulation; and
- methods for determining the energy and condensation efficiency of household tumble dryers.
The regulation also imposes detailed responsibilities on suppliers and dealers. These include a requirement for suppliers to ensure that each household tumble dryer is supplied with a printed label and a product fiche, and for dealers to ensure that each household tumble dryer visibly bears the label provided by the suppliers on the outside of the front or top.
Furthermore, both suppliers and dealers are required to ensure that any advertisement for a specific model of household tumble dryer contains the energy efficiency class, if the advertisement discloses energy-related or price information.
The regulation repeals Directive 95/13/EC on May 29 2013 and will apply from the same date; however, Articles 3(d) and (e) and Articles 4(b), (c) and (d) shall apply from September 29 2013.
For further information on this topic please contact Reshad Forbes at Van Bael & Bellis by telephone (+32 2 647 73 50), fax (+32 2 640 64 99) or email ([email protected]).
Endnotes
(1) The full text of the regulation can be found at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:123:0001:0026:EN:PDF.
For the corrigenda to the regulation, published on May 11 2012 (concerning dates of application only), see http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:124:0056:0056:EN:PDF.