EU proposes limited ecological-design rules

By James Kanter
Published: July 16, 2008

PARIS: The European Commission on Wednesday backed away from plans to introduce new ecological-design requirements on goods like shoes and furniture, and instead said new measures should be limited to energy-related products.
The European Union environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas, had favored setting minimum requirements for the environmental impacts of all manufactured products, in a package of measures introduced Wednesday.
Those rules could have stipulated, for example, the maximum amount of water used to make a sneaker, or the percentage of a table that should be recyclable. Although the proposals were far more limited in the end, Dimas still called the package a breakthrough.
"Our actions as consumers and producers worldwide are major forces behind climate change and the destruction of nature," said Dimas. The proposals, he said, would "encourage a switch to energy-efficient and environmentally friendly products and production."
The proposals expand on existing legislation for the ecological design of such energy-using goods as major appliances, by mandating minimum standards for products like window frames and water faucets that have an effect, albeit indirect, on energy consumption.

Some of those products already are regulated nationally, but the new rules would create Europe-wide standards.
If the proposals become law, consumers also could see more color-coded labels on a wider range of goods - from shower heads to electric toothbrushes - to help them choose items that consume less energy. Such labels could identify those products that achieve higher, but voluntary, standards for consumption or conservation of energy, water or other criteria.
Given the vast size of the European market, such regulation could end up impacting the way consumer products are sold around the world, as global manufacturers adapt their products to higher standards in the EU.
But the precise list of products to be included under the new rules is likely to be the subject of fierce lobbying in coming months. The proposals still must be approved by the European Parliament and by EU member governments.
The design rules in force since 2005 already govern the way certain products must operate. Computers and televisions, for example, must include a standby function so that they consume less energy when they go unused. Big electricity consumers like water heaters and industrial fans, also are covered by the current rules.
Industry groups warn that applying consumption and conservation standards to broad new categories of products may prove to be difficult, and that those efforts risk duplicating or conflicting with such existing standards as those that apply to buildings.
"Industry insists that impact assessments on the specific proposals for regulation be carried out to the highest standards," Philippe de Buck, the secretary general of BusinessEurope, a European business confederation, said. "European companies must be fully involved in the design of these instruments because they will have to implement them."
EU officials emphasized that developing environmental industries was important to Europe's future, saying the global market was estimated to be €1 trillion, or $1.58 trillion at current exchange rates, in 2005 and could reach €2.2 trillion in 2020.
Günter Verheugen, the vice president of the European Commission, sought to encourage industry to maintain a long-term perspective about the benefits of more regulation.
"The reality is that European industry will maintain competitiveness only if their products are, in terms of the environment, the most sustainable and the most efficient," he said.
Consumer groups said the measures fell far short of what was needed to help shoppers and householders make genuinely green choices.
Monique Goyens, the director general of the European Consumers' Organization, said items like mattresses should have been included, and that more measures should have been taken to address issues like the potential for recycling a product.