Revised draft ecodesign rules for water heaters were issued before the summer. Stakeholders have until 3 September to make comments. Energy efficiency standards for air-conditioning equipment and computers are also likely to be voted on this autumn.

Draft rules on long-awaited standards for boilers may be issued by the end of the year ahead of a possible vote by the member states' regulatory committee in early 2011. Discussions on standards for water heaters and boilers, which began in 2008, are being delayed by further technical work.

Environmental groups say ecodesign standards for water heaters and boilers are urgently needed because they represent about half of the energy-saving potential of products regulated under EU ecodesign legislation. Parallel discussions on energy labelling requirements for these two product categories are taking place.

Energy labelling rules are subject to the new comitology procedure introduced by the Lisbon treaty. This means such rules are now adopted by the EU executive following stakeholder consultations. Under the previous regime, which still applies to ecodesign, the rules had to be approved by member states first.

Green public procurement (GPP) criteria for boilers and air-conditioning and heat pumps have been postponed until ecodesign and energy labelling requirements for these products are agreed. GPP criteria for eight products were published in July.

This voting timetable may suffer delays due to changes within the ecodesign unit of the commission's energy department following the retirement of head of unit André Brisaer, an EU source told ENDS. The forthcoming revision of the EU's energy efficiency action plan could also be a delaying factor.