PRESS RELEASE - 11.03.2019

The European Commission has just agreed on the revamp of the energy label for lighting, fridges, TV screens, dishwashers and washing machines.¹ BEUC and its sister organisation ANEC - the consumer voice in standardisation - have long called for such an update, which will enable consumers to better understand how much energy their appliances consume.

As of 2021, the new law will remove the ‘A+’,’A++’ and ‘A+++’ classes that have appeared on the energy label over the years. In fact, this is where most appliances are currently grouped, thus leaving lower classes empty. As a result, fewer than 1 in 4 consumers understands that an ‘A+’ fridge is the least energy-efficient on the market².

It is much better to go back to a simple A-G scale in which the green ‘A’ class label would always appear on the most energy-efficient products. The ‘Buy A’ message is easier for consumers to understand and triggers continuous energy efficiency innovations.

Monique Goyens, BEUC’s Director General, commented:

“It was high time the energy label got a facelift, because it misled consumers to assume that their fridge or washing machine was consuming less energy than it was. The new label will be a crucial tool to help consumers opt for the most energy-efficient products and save money. However, this is only the beginning. The EU Commission should not rest on its laurels and swiftly rescale the energy label for other product groups too.”

Stephen Russell, ANEC’s Secretary General, commented:

“The Commission needs to keep the ball rolling and quickly extend the improvement of the label to other consumer products. We regret product groups will be rescaled at different times. For instance, in 2021, consumers will see the A-G label on TVs while ‘+’ classes will still appear on heaters until 2030. This will cause confusion among consumers that could be very easily avoided.”

Next in line: Ecodesign measures

Improved information on energy consumption is crucial, but it must go hand in hand with improved design to make a real change. The Commission should swiftly adopt new design requirements for lighting, fridges, TV screens, dishwashers and washing machines to make sure the worst-performing ones are taken off the market as soon as possible. These planned Ecodesign measures, due later this year, will benefit consumers further as they will enable easier repair and ban problematic substances.

Next steps:

The European Parliament and the Council now have two months (with a possible two-month extension) to object to the Energy labelling measures. If they do not, the measures will be published in the Official Journal.

The Ecodesign measures, meant to improve the energy consumption of appliances, are now under scrutiny by Parliament and Council. The implementing acts should be officially adopted by the Commission this summer.

More information:

• Factsheet ‘The new Energy label: back to A-G scale’
• News piece ‘New Ecodesign measures to make repair easier and products safer’, 31/01/2019

¹ The measures adopted today are part of the energy labelling framework adopted in 2017.
² Result from a survey by German consumer organisation vzbv: Energielabel muss verständlicher werden