Luxembourg, 10/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Energy Council reached political agreement on the proposed directive setting eco-design requirements for energy-consuming products, in Luxembourg on Thursday. The 25 Ministers of the European Union quickly agreed on the compromise put forward by the Presidency after Denmark, which wanted to be able to impose stricter national requirements than the Community ones, finally lifted its reservation on the text. The European Parliament is now to take position at second reading.
The proposed directive, which was presented in August 2003, aims to include environmental considerations in the design of energy-consuming products, such as heating devices, in order to improve consideration for the environment during their life cycle, and to avoid obstacles to intra-Community trade. The proposal does not contain a list of products concerned, but defines a framework with principles and general criteria, such as criteria on the choice of products concerned (commercialisation level, environmental impact). The Commission will be responsible for drawing up and adopting concrete execution measures for specific products, as part of the comitology procedure. Products which conform to the provisions of the directive will receive a certificate of compliance (a sort of label).
The text adopted by the Council also includes various requests by the European Parliament, voiced at first reading and provides, notably: -the creation of a consultation forum to get all interested parties involved (environmentalists, non-governmental organisations, industries, unions…); -a revision clause in the directive, no more than five years after its adoption, allowing the Commission to make new proposals if necessary; -the Commission's periodic adoption of a working programme laying down an indicative list of groups of priority products covered by the directive, after consulting the parties concerned.