New UK ecodesign and labelling regulation published
Draft legislation was recently laid before the UK parliament to bring into force updated ecodesign and labelling regulations for several refrigerated products. The Ecodesign for Energy-Related Products and Energy Information Regulations 2021 include:
- Refrigerating appliances (domestic refrigeration).
- Refrigeration with a direct sales function (supermarket display cabinets).
The notes provided by UK Government state that the requirements in the regulation are intended to mirror the technical requirements in the equivalent EU regulations:
- Household refrigeration: Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/2019.
- Refrigerating appliances with a direct sales function (commercial refrigeration): Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/2024 with respect to Ecodesign and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/2018 with respect to Energy Labelling.
The regulations cover England, Wales and Scotland but not Northern Ireland where in accordance with the Northern Ireland Protocol, EU Ecodesign and Energy Labelling regulations continue to apply.
Manufacturers must still use the UK energy labels with Union Jack and QR code included and link testing results to a publicly available source. A review clause is included in the regulation which is 25 December 2025 for commercial refrigeration and 25 December 2027 for household refrigerators. This will review the legislation and suggest updates.
It is expected that once the draft legislation is scrutinised by Parliament and then debated in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords it will be become law in mid-June 2021. For refrigeration with a direct sales function the requirements will come into force on the day after the legislation is ‘made’ in mid-June. A short transitional period is allowed until 1 July 2021 for products that have pre-existing ecodesign requirements (i.e. refrigerating appliances).
The draft legislation can be viewed at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2021/9780348222920.
If you would like further information on ecodesign or energy labelling of refrigerated products then please contact Judith Evans at RD&T (j.a.evans@rdandt.co.uk).