The European Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) has published its final Opinion for the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) on the proposal for a European Regulation to replace the Energy Labelling Framework Directive.
The ENVI approved a set of amendments in April which were then subject to even more proposed amendments culminating in the latest version which was due to be submitted to the ITRE for voting.
The latest draft suggests that labels should not be reviewed at fixed intervals but when necessary; the top scales of new labels should not be left empty, but a certain percentage occupancy would trigger rescaling (much as it does now); and manufacturers should be able to decide (within certain parameters) how they want to submit information to the product database.
The industry has been vehemently opposed to the notion that companies should be required to enter commercially sensitive information in a Commission database just because some parties believe that this would address an ongoing lack of consistent market surveillance. Other proposals have met with less resistance, and in some cases even support, but MEPs are still debating so things could yet change.