European Commission (EC)

In addition to the previous communication about the ACCEPTANCE environment, on 14 December the Commission announced that the first version of EPREL has been made available in the PRODUCTION environment. This environment is secured, and it is the one that suppliers must use to register their models from 1 January 2019.

In cooperation with Orgalime, the Eurovent Team regularly provides you with an in-depth overview on all European legislative developments of relevance for the HVACR sector. The Bulletin provides for a hands-on compendium allowing the industry to assess the status quo and expected future developments. In addition to recent sector specific issues, our Team has summarised some of the key takeaways within this article. 

On 11 December, the Commission made a new prototype version of EPREL available in the ACCEPTANCE environment. This is the last version before “Production” and it is the version that suppliers will have on 14 December 2018. The European Commission apologises for the inconvenience but thinks that it is necessary to give suppliers some days (!) to adapt their systems, if necessary, before Production.

The Commission service is developing explanatory documents to support Member States in the transposition of Directive 2018/844/EU amending the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2010/31/EU into national law. These drafts reflect comments submitted by Member States to the Commission. It is not yet known when these would be published.

On a monthly basis, the Eurovent Team compiles a global overview of the latest developments concerning new standardisation activities and technical regulations of relevance for the HVACR industry. Our Notifications allow members to be prepared for developments that can have an impact on them and their products.

The second Ad-Hoc Working Group (AHWG2) meeting has resulted in a Technical Background Report with third draft criteria proposals on 29 November 2018. Comments can be made until 11 January 2019.

Publication of all three revised directives in the Official Journal is scheduled on 21 December. The 2030 targets set out in the revised Energy Efficiency Directive are 32,5%. The revised Renewable Energy Sources Directive has a binding collective target of 32% of energy that shall come from renewable energy sources.

On 29 November, DG Energy provided an update on the state of play. The Commission aims to make the data that suppliers upload in the database accessible to market surveillance authorities and the public as of April 2019 rather than 1 January 2019. 

The European Commission has communicated an updated list of European Assessment Documents that can be used to show conformity with the Construction Products Regulation.

The F-Gas industry roundtable, organised by EPEE, brings together at regular intervals stakeholders to discuss progress in implementing the F-gas Regulation. In addition to a report on communication activities the issue of illegal imports of refrigerants was addressed. About 60 stakeholders attended the roundtable.