News

Eurovent is launching a new Product Group ‘Rooftop Units’ (PG-RT) at the request of members active in this product field. In the near term, the PG-RT will focus on the revision of Regulation (EU) 2016/2281, which is supposed to start by the end of 2020, and the assessment of the rooftop unit sector and its technologies.

eTranslation is developed by the European Commission and is widely used and trusted by European and national public administrations. SMEs can now use eTranslation to translate any document or plain text between any of the 24 official EU languages, as well as Icelandic, Norwegian, Russian.

Following the meeting of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee on Friday, 12 June 2020, the United Kingdom has formally notified the European Union that it will neither accept nor seek any extension to the current Transition Period ending on 31 December 2020.

In May 2020, the European Commission published a Roadmap towards a Renovation Wave. The Roadmap received input from 187 bodies, including Eurovent Association, Eurovent Certita Certification and one Member Association (Talteka). Up to 9 July 2020, the Commission is hosting a public consultation to define its strategy and propose an action plan. Participation to the consultation will help in shaping the future renovation markets.

After the Consultation Forum meeting on parameters and values (see GEN – 1121.00), the European Commission has provided a tentative planning of the meetings for 2020. This planning can still evolve. The meeting for review of the Ventilation Units Regulation is set for 23 October 2020. The meeting for review of the Fans Regulation is set for December 2020.

The Eurovent Product Groups ‘Air Conditioners’ (PG-AC) and ‘Liquid Chilling Packages and Heat Pumps’ (PG-LCP-HP) elected new Chairmen and Vice Chairmen, with a clear scope and timeline of activities. Mr Henk Kranenberg was separately elected Chairman of both Products Groups. He is joined by Vice Chairman Mr Stefano Vit (De’ Longhi) in the air conditioners group and Vice Chairman Mr Mariano Covolo (Mitsubishi Electric Hydronics & IT Cooling Systems S.p.A.) in the chillers group.

The European Commission is working on an omnibus amendment to the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Regulations published in 2019. This omnibus amendment is not a review of the Regulations that have been adopted. It is not to be considered as a vehicle for adding new elements, even if they would be ‘nice to have’. The amendment is limited to corrections and clarifications.

The Eurovent Association has partnered up with ATMOsphere (shecco) and Danish Technological Institute to support the virtual ATMO/DTI Technical Conference ‘The Future of Air Conditioning’ on 23 and 24 June 2020. Eurovent’s Deputy Secretary General and European refrigeration expert Francesco Scuderi will elaborate on the EU Climate Neutrality Strategy in the Policy Panel on the first day of the conference. Eurovent members receive 15% discount on conference passes.

Since early 2017, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) has been developing the Green Public Procurement (GPP) criteria for data centres. The final report has been published on the JRC website. Within this report, the criteria related to the operation of cooling systems and the use of refrigerants are of interest to the HVACR industry.

On behalf of the European Commission (DG CLIMA), Öko-Recherche is working on a series of analysis evaluating the implementation of the F-Gas Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 since 2015. This includes, among others, monitoring of the refrigerant prices. The Q1/2020 report has been recently shared with Eurovent.