BEUC NEWS - 21.01.2020

As of next year, the EU Energy Label – which displays the energy consumption of electric appliances – will get a facelift. It will be rid of the top ‘+’ classes (+, ++, +++) that have appeared over time to reflect technological improvements. The effect of those ‘+’ classes was that the lower classes ended up being empty which made the label rather meaningless. The label rescaled from A to G will first appear on five appliances most of us own at home: washing machines, TV screens, fridges, dishwashers and lighting.¹

To ensure the new label is widely understood, consumer organisations in Europe will walk consumers through the change. That is why five organisations from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Slovenia – all members of BEUC – are participating in an EU-funded project, called ‘Boost the Energy Label Take-up’ (BELT).²  During a second stage, consumers groups in Greece, Lithuania, Ireland and Croatia will step up their participation in the project.³

Consumers will not be the only ones impacted by the roll out of the new label. The project also supports manufacturers, retailers, distributors so they adapt to the new rules smoothly.

The project will organise dedicated workshops, events and trainings. The BELT project benefits from multidisciplinary expertise and a wide geographical coverage reaching 20 million European consumers and 5,000 market players.

The BELT project just had its own website launched and is to run until early 2022.

1. See BEUC press release “The EU adopts simpler Energy label on consumer goods”, March 2019
2. These organisations are Altroconsumo (Italy), DECO (Portugal), OCU (Spain), Test Achats/Test Aankoop (Belgium) and Zveza Potrošnikov Slovenije (Slovenia).
3. The following consumer associations will be involved: EKPIZO and KEPKA (Greece), Lietuvos vartotojų organizacijų aljansas (Lithuania) and Consumers' Association of Ireland.