EU revises ecodesign priorities

The European Commission has adopted a revised working plan (lexisurl.com/iema14181) on ecodesign covering the period 2012 to 2014

Under article 16(1) of the Ecodesign Directive (2005/32/EC as amended), the commission has to publish a plan setting out, for the three following years, an indicative list of energy-related product groups that will be considered priorities for new measures designed to improve their energy efficiency.

The latest list, the second since the Directive came into force in 2005, covers the following seven product groups: window products; steam boilers (less than 50MW); power cables; enterprises’ servers, data storage and ancillary equipment; smart appliances/meters; water-related products; and wine storage appliances – there is a legal obligation under ecodesign regulation 643/20099 to assess the need to adopt such requirements for this product group.