"Weak voluntary agreement no substitute for eco-design requirements"

(08 Oct 09) eceee today presented its views on the two voluntary agreements on complex set top boxes and imaging equipment, to be discussed in the eco-design consultation forum. Whereas the proposed voluntary agreement for complex set to boxes may become successful, the proposal on imaging equipment is unacceptable.

The European Commission has proposed voluntary agreements on complex set-top boxes and imaging equipment as an alternative to regulation under the eco-design Directive. It is hoped that a voluntary agreement can ideally be set up quicker than regulation and would thus start saving energy sooner and generate larger savings. eceee believes that this may only be true for a limited number of products.

“ We find the proposal for imaging equipment very weak and totally unacceptable” Nls Borg, Executive Director of eceee said. “With 80 % market coverage and a 50 % compliance rate, the effective coverage may only be 40 % of the products on the market. Such a weak voluntary agreement is no substitute for a solid eco-design regulation where everyone must comply”.

eceee also points to other weaknesses in the proposal regarding the scope and the inconsistent alignment with Energy Star specifications.

Complex set-to boxes

The proposed voluntary agreement for complex set-top boxes is given cautious support by eceee.

“The backing from the industry is much better. Still, we need to see that the commitments from industry partners really cover the relevant products to a significant degree, around 80 percent is needed” said Nils Borg.

eceee outlines a few conditions that need to be met in order to make the agreement truly successful:

Industry signatories must represent a significant share of the EU market to avoid free riders and maintain the credibility of a voluntary agreement instead of regulation.

Tier II values are draft values. If final tier II values are weaker than those now discussed, it should be discussed in a new consultation forum and not delegated to the industry or the steering group.

It is important that the power consumption is defined in a transparent way. The measured Typical Energy Consumption (TEC) value should show the break-down power consumption values that make up the total quota. This is important information for consumers who may have different usage patterns than those on which the TEC value is based, and it is also important for monitoring and evaluation of the agreement.

Download eceee’s comments on the proposed voluntary agreement on imaging equipment. [pdf]
Download eceee’s comments on the proposed voluntary agreement on complex set-top boxes. [pdf]
See also eceee’s eco-design pages

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