Policy Updates

<p>The association Construction Products Europe is working towards a smart CE marking concept in the form of a CEN Workshop Agreement by April 2018. This would also refer to Building Information Modelling (BIM).</p>

<p>Shortly after the release of the European Commission guidance document on the Gas Appliances Regulation (GAR), our partner association Orgalime has issued a guidance document written by a Task Force composed of industry experts.</p>

<p>The European Commission has published Directive 2017/2102/EU amending the RoHS 2 Directive 2011/65/EU. The requirements apply to all other electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) that was outside the scope of Directive 2002/95/EC and which is placed on the market from 22 July 2019. This document provides for a summary on the most important points. </p>

<p>In October 2017, the CEN-CENELEC Ecodesign Coordination Group produced an updated overview of the link between Ecodesign regulations and standardisation activities. In many cases, standards provide the details that accompany the regulations. Eurovent has compiled a summary.</p>

<p>The Gas Appliances Directive has been revised into Gas Appliances Regulation, which will enter into force on 21 April 2018. The European Commission has published a guidance document and a set of questions and answers related to this transition, together with a guidance document for local space heaters.</p>

<p>The four trends identified by IEA are that the United States is set to become the global oil and gas exporter, renewables are being deployed rapidly thanks to falling costs, the share of electricity in the energy mix is growing, and China’s new economic strategy takes it on a cleaner growth mode, with implications for global energy markets. </p>

<p>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 prepare for developments that can have an impact on them and their products.</p>

<p>In 2015, the European Commission paper on ‘Ecodesign for energy-related products integrated into other energy-related products’ was discussed during a Consultation Forum. It provides for an interpretation and could serve as basis for further discussion. Throughout the past two years, industry views and proposals have evolved. Recently, some associations have re-entered discussions on this subject and propose a distinction between ‘bespoke’ and ‘catalogue’ products. Eurovent members are asked to critically reflect on this subject and to share their views with the Secretariat.</p>

<p>BACS were listed in the 2016-2019 Ecodesign Working Plan as a new set of product groups to be analysed. The aim of the scoping study is to define the product scope, to identify the focus areas and direction to take for the subsequent preparatory study and ultimately determine and draft out policy options in light with the Ecodesign Directive.</p>

<p>The Impulse Foundation of our German Member Association VDMA sponsored a research study focused on benefits of energy labels in the B2B environment of the mechanical engineering industry. The study carried out by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research provides insight into why industrial consumers should be treated differently to final consumers represented by the public. The Eurovent Team has summarised the study results within this article.</p>

<p>The European Commission has released the 2017 pocketbook with data up to 2015. The first pocketbooks concentrated on energy figures. Nowadays, socio-economic indicators and the impact of the energy sector on the environment are covered as well.</p>

<p>The F-Gas Regulation is obliging market players to aim for low or the lowest GWP refrigerant solutions. In addition to considering natural refrigerants, ASERCOM has evaluated the currently known public test results of new proposes synthetic refrigerants alternatives.</p>