Brussels, 14/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - In the conclusions adopted on 10 October in Luxembourg on implementation of the 1992/75/EC directive on energy labelling and the 2005/32/EC directive on eco-devised energy consumer products, the Energy Council appealed for a ban on the sale of low performance lighting products, such as electric filament lamps, from 2010. The text explains that this should be done, “when other substitutes exist, when there is no risk to supply in the internal market or problems to end-users”. The EU27 is therefore urging the European Commission to submit, before the end of 2008, a draft regulation to launch the process for phasing out electric filament lamps, as well as all low performance lamps. This ban will lead to the replacement of traditional filament bulbs, developed at the end of the 19th century by Thomas Edison, by energy efficient bulbs; such as energy saving bulbs and energy efficient lamps, which consume almost 75% less than the traditional kind of bulbs. In June 2007, European bulb manufacturers made a commitment to gradually getting rid of low performance bulbs from the European market by 2015. The industry said that this initiative could reduce CO2 emissions by 60% (23 mega-tonnes a year) generated by domestic lighting and saving €7bn, an annual 63,000 GWh of electricity (EUROPE 9439). This initiative is part of the energy efficiency action plan, adopted by the Commission in November 2006, which aims to cut the EU's energy consumption by 20% by 2020 (EUROPE 9290). At the end of the Energy Council on Friday, Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, confirmed that he would be presenting a low performance bulb sales ban next December. He also explained that he was planning on energy efficiency measures for boilers, heaters and refrigerators. In a draft report on energy security due for adoption at the European Council on 15-16 October, preliminarily examined by the Energy Council, the French Presidency of the EU confirmed in a chapter on energy efficiency that more than 20 categories of products are expected to be subject to specifications over the next three years. It also explains that revisions of the directives on the eco-design of products and energy labelling could possibly be adopted before the end of 2009, with homogenous fields of application to increase synergies between these two regulations, as well as their effectiveness. (E.H./transl.rh)