Energy efficient products: Commission moves to improve quality of information to consumers and companies

The Commission has today launched 3 new elements to further support the energy efficiency and ecodesign of a wide range of household products and appliances on the EU market. Firstly a new web portal has been launched to make information about the energy efficiency of products more accessible to the public; secondly, new rules have been adopted aimed at better guaranteeing the quality of online information of energy-labelled products; at the same time, new estimates have been released indicating that EU ecodesign and energy labelling policies reduced annual consumer spending by nearly €90 billion in 2022 – a figure that could reach €150 billion a year in 2030.   

EU Commissioner for energy Kadri Simson said

'30 years after the first EU Energy Label was born, EU ecodesign and energy label policies remains as important as ever to EU citizens, to our energy system, to EU competitiveness and to the environment. By promoting the development and market uptake of energy efficient and more durable and reparable products, these polices help consumers save money, whilst reducing costs for manufacturers and is a true win-win for Europe.'

Monique Goyens, Director-General of the European Consumer Organisation BEUC said

'Consumers want to get a fair deal both for themselves and the planet, saving energy and using appliances for as long as possible. But they often find it complicated in practice. Thanks to Ecodesign measures and Energy Labelling, European households can save up to €1 800 every year on their energy bills, as we showed last year. We trust the Commission’s new portal will help consumers know how energy-efficient appliances on the market are. A database’s worth lies in reliable data, so we welcome the Commission’s measures pushing manufacturers to be transparent.'

Paolo Falcioni, Director-General of Home Appliances Europe (APPLIA) added

'EU Energy Labels and Ecodesign has driven industry-wide innovation, fostering competition among companies to develop cutting-edge technologies that offered additional features and benefits to consumers. These measures allow manufacturers to gain a competitive edge by investing in R&D and differentiating their products. The launch of the new web portal on Energy Efficient Products today will help the sector comply with legislation and make information-sharing smoother across stakeholders.'

The new web portal on energy efficient products that has been launched today will make it easier for EU citizens to find information about the energy efficiency of household appliances and the ecodesign and energy labelling rules that promote these products on the EU market. The portal also provides manufacturers, importers and retailers with targeted information to help comply with the rules, including the registration of all energy labelled products in the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling (EPREL), an EU-wide database which has been available to consumers since 2022 allowing them to search among the more than 1.5 million energy-labelled products on the EU market.

The new implementing rules on EPREL (EU/2024/994) aim to guarantee the quality, reliability and usefulness of the information provided to consumers and public authorities via the database, where all energy-labelled products must be registered by suppliers when placed on the EU market. In particular, suppliers will be required to prove their identity and establishment in the EU using EU electronic identification and trust services (eIDAS) when uploading information to guarantee the legitimacy and traceability of information relayed to consumers. EPREL is one of the first major EU databases deploying eIDAS at scale to carry out secure and seamless interactions. The rules will also help retailers ensure that the energy-labelled products they sell online or in shops are correctly registered and labelled for the benefit of consumers.

Finally, the 'Ecodesign Impact Accounting Overview Report 2023' that has been published today provides updated estimates of the combined impact of ecodesign and labelling polices. These figures show how EU minimum requirements and consumer information via the EU energy label together have been a major driver for manufacturers to innovate and make products more efficient. It also underlines the advantages of the new durability or reparability requirements gradually being introduced when rules are revised. By making products more efficient and last longer, each household is estimated to have saved on average €290 in 2022 – a figure set to increase to €475 per year per household in 2030 compared to a scenario without ecodesign and labelling.

Background

Starting in 1994, many energy-consuming household appliances like fridges, washing machines and dishwashers have been subject to EU Energy Labelling requirements to help consumers identify energy efficient products. 30 years later, the colour-graded 'A-to-G' style EU Energy Label is one of the most-widely recognised EU symbols: surveys have shown that more than 90% of EU citizens have seen the symbol, and 4 out of 5 people surveyed said they have been influenced by it when purchasing appliances. 

Since 2019, suppliers of energy labelled products have been required to register their models in EPREL to facilitate market surveillance by EU countries' authorities and to enable consumers and public procurers to easily identify energy efficient models on the EU market. In 2022, the Commission launched a searchable online interface to EPREL where consumers can look up details about energy labelled product models. The database is increasingly also used by online retailers, and platforms like Google or Amazon, to show the correct EU labels to users. The EPREL database has over 1.5 million registered models by thousands of operators (manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives), and its public search interface has about 1 million page views per month.

EU Ecodesign and Energy Labelling for Energy-related Products (ErPs) deliver many concrete benefits to consumers and companies in the EU. Here are 3 examples

• Household refrigerators and freezers were the first products for which mandatory EU labels were adopted in 1994. Since then, the requirements have been updated a number of times, with the latest ones applicable as of 1 March 2024. They have helped cut average annual energy consumption of more than 60%, and a reduction in consumer expenditure estimated to reach €16 billion a year in 2030.
• EU rules on 'off' or 'standby' mode electricity consumption for a wide range of appliances used in households and offices have been in force since 2008 and amended several times since then. In 2020 these were estimated to have saved some 29 TWh per annum. Including the latest changes adopted in 2023, the annual savings from reduced energy waste are expected to increase to about 36 TWh per anum by 2030, representing saved consumer expenditure of €7.9 billion yearly.
• New rules on phones and tablets (adopted in 2023 and applicable as of mid-2025) are estimated to lead to user expense savings in 2030 of roughly €20 billion, thanks to lower acquisition costs due to better durability/reparability and longer lifetimes.

Related links

• Energy-efficient products portal
• About the energy label and ecodesign
• European Product Registry for Energy Labelling (EPREL)
• Rules and requirements for energy labelling and ecodesign