The European Parliament adopted by 394 votes to 13, with 3 abstentions, a legislative resolution modifying, under the first reading of the codecision procedure, the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy related products (recast).
The amendments are the result of a compromise negotiated with the Council.
The main amendments mostly concern the recitals and stress the following points:
- many energy related products have a significant improvement potential for reducing environmental impacts and achieving energy savings through better design which also leads to economic savings for businesses and end users. In addition to products which use, generate, transfer, or measure energy, selected energy related products, including products used in construction such as windows, insulation materials, or some water using products like shower heads or taps could also contribute to significant energy savings during use;
- the text stresses that improving the energy and resource efficiency of products contributes to the security of the energy supply and reduces demand on natural resources, which are preconditions of sound economic activity and therefore of sustainable development;
- considering at the design stage a product's environmental impact throughout its whole life cycle has a high potential to facilitate environmental improvement in a cost-effective way, including on resource and material efficiency and thereby meeting the objectives of the Thematic Strategy on Natural Resources;
- regard should be given to the modules and rules intended for use in technical harmonisation Directives set out in Decision No 768/2008/EC on a common framework for the marketing of products and repealing Council Decision 93/465/EEC;
- in accordance with the Interinstitutional Agreement on better law-making, Member States are encouraged to draw up, for themselves and in the interest of the Community, their own tables, illustrating, as far as possible, the correlation between this Directive and the transposition measures, and to make them public.
Not later than 2012 the Commission shall review the effectiveness of this Directive and of its implementing measures, including, inter alia:
- the methodology for the identification and coverage of significant environmental parameters, such as resource efficiency, considering the whole life-cycle of products;
- the threshold for implementing measures;
- market surveillance mechanisms;
- any relevant self-regulation stimulated.
Following this review, and in particular considering the experience related to the extended scope of the Directive, the Commission shall assess notably the appropriateness of extending the scope of the Directive to non energy related products, in order to achieve significant reduction of environmental impacts throughout their whole life cycle.