EU energy labeling

The European Parliament today voted to adopt a compromise proposal on revising EU rules on the labelling of energy consumption (1). Following the vote, Green MEP Satu Hassi, member of the energy committee of the European Parliament said:

"The compromise on revising EU rules on energy labelling, adopted today, will help avoid some confusion for consumers. The end result is not ideal, and the labelling system could have been made simpler and more effective, but maintaining the current underlying energy labelling format will go some way towards ensuring consumers can make an informed choice on the most energy efficient products.

"MEPs voted to retain the basic format of the current energy label with a closed scale (A-G), but allowed for the addition of a maximum of three additional classes (A+, A++ and A+++). If the top grade is reached there has to be a re-evaluation and a rescaling of the grades. For the clarity of the system it is important that the colour code, going from red to green (green being the best grade), will shift so that the best grade available will always be in green. Thankfully, the EU Parliament succeeded in fending off attempts by the industry lobbies to impose an alternative, more complex system, which would have made the energy label more confusing and less clear for consumers."

Note to editors

1) Labelling and standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by energy-related products (recast)

Rapporteur: Anni Podimata (S&D, Greece)