Consultation Forum on the Energy labelling database

26 October 2018

The Consultation Forum meeting on the Energy labelling database took place on October 16. The meeting was dedicated to discussing the development of the EPREL database and the draft implementing acts (please see attachments below). A summary of progress to date is below:

  • The EC has been working hard to set up the database and they thank the industry for their cooperation. As a result, on January 1 there will be a database that allows the industry to input the necessary data.
  • However, the EC understands that there will be little time, in particular for some product groups, to prepare. Moreover, the system to system upload will not be ready in January.
  • The EC focused on setting up the database for suppliers, which will be operational on January 1. Consequently, they advanced more slowly on the public part and on the access for Market Surveillance Authorities.
  • For these reasons, suppliers will be able to input their data, but MSAs and the public will not have access to the EPREL database until April 2019. Manufacturers will have to meet the deadline and register products by 1st January, but there will be no enforcement of the measures and possible checks from the MSAs before 1st April. The period from January to April will also be used to test the system and debug what is needed.
  • Almost all product groups but 4 will be in PRODUCTION by mid-December, providing only a few working days to upload all product information onto the system. Further information on the timelines for specific product groups is available on the Slides attached.
  • Finally, it was reminded that system-to-system will only be available on 1st February.

In addition, the Commission provided information on the following areas:

EPREL System environment

It’s running on 3 strands:

  • Pilot: this is mainly a testing ground for users to test the interface. It is a non-secured environment and no sensitive information should be input. None of the data will be transferred to the acceptance phase. The pilot will run until 30 October 2018.
  • Acceptance: is a more robust environment with secure testing and intended for the upload of real data. However, the data input will not be saved into the next phase. It is available here: https://webgate.acceptance.ec.europa.eu/eprel . This phase will run from 30 October to 14 December and will be available for 14 product groups;
  • Production: this is the formal upload to the database, hosted in a secure server and System-to-System operated. Suppliers do not need to upload their own labels, as they can be produced in the system in every language.

Equivalent model

  • The base model, which includes all relevant information, must be created first. Once this base model is complete, manufacturers can register equivalent models. But there is no obligation to have a certain order neither in uploading nor in publishing (=placing on the market) of models; the database will accommodate this.
  • References can be made to a non-published model not to an incomplete model.
  • This change will be visible in PILOT from mid-November as PILOT, end of November in ACCEPTANCE, and from 14th December it should be fully active (PRODUCTION).

Next steps:

  • 16 November deadline for comments on the implementing acts
  • Comments on other points should be submitted as soon as possible
  • Based on the comments, the Commission will submit another proposal and adoption is foreseen for February 2018 (although this timeline may be very ambitious)

The commission has given the approximate timeline for the following product groups:

  Pilot Acceptance Production
Air conditioners 12/10/2018 30/10/2018 14/12/2018
Water heaters, packages of water heaters, space/combination heaters, packages of space heaters 16/11/2018 30/11/2018 14/12/2018
Hot water tanks, temperature control (space heaters), solar device (SH), solar device (WH) No pilot 04/01/2018 01/02/2019

 

Lastly, if you would like to submit any questions, doubts or feedback to the Commission support team you can do so by sending an email to the following address: [email protected]. Please contact or [email protected] with any feedback.

 

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