New Regulation about Ecodesign for Products

The European co-operation for accreditation EA, published on its website news regarding the Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC on which improvement the European Commission is working.

Ecodesing of a product is a set of conditions that a product that uses energy shall meet in terms of environmental protection in the period that includes the process of its creation, use, and decommissioning.

This directive has a long track record of delivering benefits to businesses, consumers, and the environment. In 2021 alone, the impact of the current Ecodesign measures, covering 31 product groups, saved 120 billion euros in energy expenditure for EU consumers, leading to a 10% lower annual energy consumption by the products in scope.

 However, it’s not enough. The aim is to make products on the EU market increasingly sustainable, by enabling far-reaching performance and information requirements – known as ‘ecodesign requirements’ – to be set on a wide range of them to improve their circularity, energy performance, and other environmental sustainability aspects. 

The new regulation shall improve the sustainability of products and products shall meet ecodesign requirements which relate to:

•    product durability and reliability;
•    product reusability;
•    product upgradability, reparability, maintenance, and refurbishment;
•    the presence of substances of concern in products;
•    product energy and resource efficiency;
•    recycled content in products;
•    product remanufacturing and recycling;
•    products’ carbon and environmental footprints;
•    products’ expected generation of waste materials

This Regulation also establishes a digital product passport (‘product passport’), provides for the setting of mandatory green public procurement criteria, and creates a framework to prevent unsold consumer products from being destroyed.

The aim is also to align the regulation with the new legislative framework (NLF), and include accreditation according to Regulation 765/2008, notified bodies, conformity assessment procedures (modules), and CE marking. Conformity assessment activities shall not only be related to product safety but also sustainable criteria such as durability, reliability, and carbon footprint of the products. The procedures shall be set out in delegated act(s).

It means that consumers will be able to use their products for a longer time, save money, and be able to repair them without changing the whole thing. It means fewer resources and energy wasted on the production of equipment destined to end up in the trash after only a few years of service, and better information about the energy consumption of each product.

You can read about this HERE