Policy Updates

<p>The 2018 edition of the European Environment Agency (EEA) report on fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-Gases) confirms the good progress achieved in 2017 by the European Union. A related report by the United Nations provides for a more global outlook.</p>

<p>The first of three stakeholder consultation meetings is set to take place on 26 March 2019. The consultants envisage to set up topic groups, for which experts can present their candidature by 15 February.</p>

<p>The EMC Directive applies to almost all equipment that contains electrical and/or electronic components. It states that the generation of electromagnetic disturbances of appliances must be limited to such level that other appliances can function in accordance with their intended use. At the end of January 2019, the Commission published the 2018 update of its Guide to the EMC Directive.</p>

<p>The Montreal Protocol decision XXX/10 revises the reporting forms to be prepared by its Parties, including EU and its Member States. The revised forms require, inter alia, detailed data on HFC-23 production/by-production and emissions, as well as on imports and exports of polyols containing hydrofluorocarbons. To ensure compliance with that Montreal Protocol decision it is necessary to revise the Implementing Regulation 1191/2014 and add the new elements.</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 prepared for developments that can have an impact on them and their products.</p>

<p>Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Luxembourg, Poland, Sweden and Norway timely provided their 2019 programmes to the Commission. An initial review of these seven programmes indicates that a few to none surveillance activities with regards to Ecodesign will take place in 2019. Some countries classify their participation in the European programme EEPLIANT as Market Surveillance. Some major countries involving Italy, Spain and the Netherlands even failed to draft a programme in the past years.</p>

<p>To facilitate the comparison of different technologies with the same application, the consultant for the Review Studies proposes introducing the same Energy Efficiency classes for the appliances in the scope of Regulation (EU) 2015/1186 and Regulation (EU) 626/2011.</p>

<p>Earlier efforts towards DG Clima and in member states failed to get equipment that is pre-charged with F-Gases out of the quota. In a joint effort, industry associations will try to raise the issue anew.</p>

<p>In addition to the new Energy Label designs, the European Commission has also initiated a consumer study on the icons that would be used. At present, the consultant CentERdata is developing icons for the revised Energy Labelling Regulation for air conditioners.</p>

<p>The European Commission has started work on updating the Machinery Directive to improve safety levels further and to take account of the latest IT developments. The proposed revision aligns the Directive with EU harmonised legislation on product health and safety and tackles the challenges that may arise from technical progress in digitisation. The adoption of the revised Machinery Directive is scheduled for early to mid-2021.</p>

<p>On 4 January 2019, Eurovent Market Intelligence (EMI) has commenced with its latest annual data collection, which has been providing manufacturers with information on the European HVACR market since 1994. With more than 300 participating manufacturers, 15 product types, and response rates often exceeding 80%, the statistics branch of Eurovent has become the benchmark for HVACR market data.</p>

<p>The teams of Eurovent and PRODBIM have prepared an article for members on recent developments in Building Information Modelling (BIM) CEN TC442 standardisation activities and construction product information digitalisation. PRODBIM, a subsidiary of Eurovent Services Company, is participating to CEN TC442 & BuildingSMART working groups, and is compiling a summary of the CEN TC 442 works on BIM standardisation. Interconnecting dictionaries is the first step.</p>