Expanded product scope
With the release of the new directive, the range of products covered has now increased. Previously, the directive covered only products that use energy directly, including those that generate, transfer and measure energy. Domestic items such as boilers, computers, TVs, light bulbs and washing machines were covered, along with industrial items such as industrial furnaces and fans, and electrical transformers. As such, the directive covered the use a range of energy sources including electricity, gas and other fossil fuels.
The scope of the directive has now been extended to also include those products that do not directly use energy, but which do have an important impact on energy consumption. Under the directive, now in force since 20 November 2009, these are known as energy-related products (ErPs). They include such products as insulation materials, detergents, windows, and showerheads and taps.
To be sold on the EU market, products must meet Implementing Measures (IM) described in the directive, along with existing standards for CE conformity, which have been harmonized to fit with Implementing Measures published in 2005/32/EC and now carried over to the new directive 2009/125/EC. Likewise, any other references to the previous directive now refer to the old directive. Provisions not related to ErPs are mostly the same in both the previous and updated directives.
Next Steps
Further changes to the directive are likely by 2012. An indicative list of product groupings for 2012-2014, described in the existing directive, will be released no later than 21 October 2011. It is expected that from 2012 the scope of the directive will again be enlarged to include not only products that use or impact upon energy use, but also products that impact on the environment in other ways.
The one-stop sustainability solutions offered by SGS include measures for compliance with testing, training, product environmental assessment and technical documentation.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login