31.1.2014   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 29/33

(1)

Directive 2009/125/EC requires the Commission to set ecodesign requirements for energy-related products that account for significant volumes of sales and trade, have a significant environmental impact and present significant potential for improvement through design in terms of their environmental impact, without entailing excessive costs.

(2)

Article 16(2)(a) of Directive 2009/125/EC provides that in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 19(3) and the criteria set out in Article 15(2), and after consulting the Consultation Forum, the Commission has to, as appropriate, introduce implementing measures for products offering a high potential for cost-effective reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, such as domestic appliances, including ovens, hobs and range hoods.

(3)

The Commission has carried out preparatory studies to analyse the technical, environmental and economic aspects of domestic cooking appliances such as ovens, hobs and range hoods. These studies involved stakeholders and interested parties from the Union and third countries, and the results have been made publicly available.

(4)

The main environmental aspect of the products covered that has been identified as significant for the purposes of this Regulation is energy consumption in the use phase.

(5)

Standby and off-mode functions can be responsible for much of the total power consumption of domestic cooking appliances such as ovens, hobs and range hoods. For such appliances, power consumption of these functions is part of the minimum energy performance requirements. Standby and off-mode requirements for domestic ovens and hobs are set on the basis of the ecodesign requirements of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1275/2008 of 17 December 2008 implementing Directive 2005/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to ecodesign requirements for standby and off mode, and networked standby, electric power consumption of electrical and electronic household and office equipment (2).

(6)

The annual energy consumption of domestic ovens, hobs and range hoods was estimated to be 755 PJ (primary energy consumption) in the EU in 2010. Unless specific measures are taken, annual energy consumption is predicted to be 779 PJ in 2020. The preparatory studies show that the energy consumption of those products can be significantly reduced.

(7)

In combination, the ecodesign requirements set out in this Regulation and the labelling requirements of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 65/2014 (3) are expected to result in annual primary energy savings of 27 PJ/a in 2020, increasing to 60 PJ/a by 2030.

(8)

The preparatory studies show that requirements regarding other ecodesign parameters referred to in Part 1, point 1.3, of Annex I to Directive 2009/125/EC are not necessary as electricity and gas consumption of domestic cooking appliances such as ovens, hobs and range hoods in the use phase is the most significant environmental aspect.

(9)

Products subject to this Regulation should be made more energy-efficient by applying existing non-proprietary cost-effective technologies that can reduce the combined costs of purchasing and operating these products.

(10)

The ecodesign requirements should not affect functionality from the end-user’s perspective and should not negatively affect health, safety or the environment. In particular, the benefits of reducing energy consumption during the use phase should more than offset any possible additional environmental impact during the production phase and at the time of disposal.

(11)

The ecodesign requirements should be introduced gradually in three tiers in order to provide a sufficient timeframe for manufacturers to redesign products subject to this Regulation. Such timeframe should avoid any negative impact on the functionality of equipment already on the market and should take into account costs incurred by end-users and manufacturers, in particular small- and medium-sized enterprises, while ensuring timely achievement of the objectives of this Regulation.

(12)

Product parameters should be measured and calculated using reliable, accurate and reproducible methods which take into account recognised state-of-the-art measurement and calculation methods, including, where available, harmonised standards adopted by the European standardisation organisations, as listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on European standardisation (4).

(13)

In accordance with Article 8 of Directive 2009/125/EC, this Regulation specifies the applicable conformity assessment procedures.

(14)

In order to facilitate compliance checks, manufacturers should provide information in the technical documentation referred to in Annexes IV and V to Directive 2009/125/EC in so far as this information relates to the requirements laid down in this Regulation.

(15)

To ensure fair competition, and with a view to achieving the intended energy savings and accurately informing consumers on products’ energy performance, this Regulation should make clear that the tolerances prescribed for the national market surveillance authorities, when conducting physical tests to establish whether a specific model of an energy-related product is in compliance with this Regulation, should not be used by the manufacturers to provide room for declaring a more favourable performance of the model than measurements and calculations declared in the technical documentation of the product can justify.

(16)

In addition to the legally binding requirements laid down in this Regulation, indicative benchmarks for best-performing appliances available on the market should be identified to ensure wide availability and easy accessibility of information on the most relevant environmental aspects in the life-cycle environmental performance of products subject to this Regulation.

(17)

It is appropriate to provide for a review of the provisions of this Regulation taking into account technological progress, and in particular the effectiveness and the appropriateness of the approach followed for the determination of the ovens energy efficiency.

(18)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 19(1) of Directive 2009/125/EC,

(a)

appliances that use energy sources other than electricity or gas;

(b)

appliances which offer ‘microwave heating’ function;

(c)

small ovens;

(d)

portable ovens;

(e)

heat storage ovens;

(f)

ovens which are heated with steam as a primary heating function;

(g)

covered gas burners in hobs;

(h)

outdoor cooking appliances;

(i)

appliances designed for use only with gases of the ‘third family’ (propane and butane);

(j)

grills.

(1)

‘oven’ means an appliance or part of an appliance which incorporates one or more cavities using electricity and/or gas in which food is prepared by use of a conventional or fan-forced mode;

(2)

‘cavity’ means the enclosed compartment in which the temperature can be controlled for preparation of food;

(3)

‘multi-cavity oven’ means an oven with two or more cavities, each of which is heated separately;

(4)

‘small oven’ means an oven where all cavities have a width and depth of less than 250 mm or a height less than 120 mm;

(5)

‘portable oven’ means an oven with a product mass of less than 18 kilograms, provided it is not designed for built-in installations;

(6)

‘microwave heating’ means heating of food using electromagnetic energy;

(7)

‘conventional mode’ means the operation mode of an oven only using natural convection for circulation of heated air inside the cavity of the oven;

(8)

‘fan-forced mode’ means a mode when a built-in fan circulates heated air inside the cavity of the oven;

(9)

‘cycle’ means the period of heating a standardised load in a cavity of an oven under defined conditions;

(10)

‘cooker’ means an appliance consisting of an oven and a hob using gas or electricity;

(11)

‘operation mode’ means the status of the oven or hob during use;

(12)

‘heat source’ means the main energy form for heating an oven or hob;

(13)

‘electric hob’ means an appliance or part of an appliance which incorporates one or more cooking zones and/or cooking areas including a control unit and which is heated by electricity;

(14)

‘gas hob’ means an appliance or part of an appliance which incorporates one or more cooking zones including a control unit and which is heated by gas burners of a minimum power of 1,16 kW;

(15)

‘hob’ means an ‘electric hob’, a ‘gas hob’ or a ‘mixed hob’;

(16)

‘covered gas burners’ means closed or sealed gas range burners covered with a heavy-duty glass or ceramic cover, which forms a smooth, seamless cooking surface;

(17)

‘mixed hob’ means an appliance with one or more electrically heated cooking zones or areas and one or more cooking zones heated by gas burners;

(18)

‘cooking zone’ means a part, with a diameter of at least 100 mm, of a hob where cookware is placed and heated with not more than one piece of cookware heated at a time; the area of the cooking zone may be visibly marked on the surface of the hob;

(19)

‘cooking area’ means a part of an area of an electric hob heated by an inducted magnetic field, where cookware is placed for heating without visible marking for the cookware and where more than one item of cookware can be used simultaneously;

(20)

‘range hood’ means an appliance, operated by a motor which it controls, intended to collect contaminated air from above a hob, or which includes a downdraft system intended for installation adjacent to cooking ranges, hobs and similar cooking products, that draws vapour down into an internal exhaust duct;

(21)

‘automatic functioning mode during the cooking period’ means a condition in which the air flow of the range hood during the cooking period is automatically controlled through sensor(s), including as regards humidity, temperature, etc.;

(22)

‘fully automatic range hood’ means a range hood in which the air flow and/or other functions are automatically controlled through sensor(s) during 24 hours including the cooking period;

(23)

‘best efficiency point’ (BEP) means the range hood operating point with maximum fluid dynamic efficiency (FDEhood);

(24)

‘average illumination’ (Emiddle) means the average illumination provided by the lighting system of the range hood on the cooking surface, measured in lux;

(25)

‘off mode’ means a condition in which the equipment is connected to the mains power source but is not providing any function, or only provides an indication of off-mode condition, or only provides functionalities intended to ensure electromagnetic compatibility pursuant to Directive 2004/108/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (5);

(26)

‘standby mode’ means a condition where the equipment is connected to the mains power source, depends on energy input from the mains power source to work as intended and provides only reactivation function, or reactivation function and only an indication of enabled reactivation function, and/or information or status display, which may persist for an indefinite time;

(27)

‘reactivation function’ means a function facilitating the activation of other modes, including the active mode, by remote switch including remote control, internal sensor, or timer to a condition providing additional functions, including the main function;

(28)

‘information or status display’ means a continuous function providing information or indicating the status of the equipment on a display, including clocks;

(29)

‘end-user’ means a consumer buying or expected to buy a product;

(30)

‘equivalent model’ means a model placed on the market with the same technical parameters as another model placed on the market under a different commercial code number by the same manufacturer or importer.