12.10.2012   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 278/1

(1)

Under Directive 2009/125/EC, ecodesign requirements should be set by the Commission for energy-related products representing significant volumes of sales and trade, having significant environmental impact and presenting significant potential for improvement in terms of their environmental impact without entailing excessive costs.

(2)

Article 16(2)(a) of Directive 2009/125/EC provides that the Commission should, as appropriate, introduce an implementing measure for domestic appliances, including household tumble driers.

(3)

The Commission has carried out a preparatory study to analyse the technical, environmental and economic aspects of household tumble driers typically used in households. The study has been developed together with stakeholders and interested parties from the Union and third countries, and the results have been made publicly available.

(4)

This Regulation should cover products designed for drying laundry in households.

(5)

Household combined washer-driers have particular characteristics and should therefore be exempted from the scope of this Regulation.

(6)

The environmental aspect of household tumble driers, identified as significant for the purposes of this Regulation, is energy consumption in the use phase. The annual electricity consumption of household tumble driers is estimated to have been 21 TWh in the European Union in 2005. Unless specific measures are taken, annual electricity consumption is predicted to be 31 TWh in 2020. The preparatory study shows that the energy consumption of products subject to this Regulation can be significantly reduced.

(7)

The preparatory study shows that requirements regarding other ecodesign parameters as referred to in Annex I, Part 1, to Directive 2009/125/EC are not necessary, as the energy consumption of household tumble driers in the use phase is by far the most important environmental aspect. In accordance with Article 6(2) of Directive 2009/125/EC, Member States shall not prohibit, restrict or impede the placing on the market and/or putting into service, within their territories, of household tumble driers on grounds of ecodesign requirements relating to those ecodesign parameters referred to in Annex I, Part 1, of that Directive for which this Regulation provides that no ecodesign requirement is necessary.

(8)

The energy consumption of household tumble driers should be made more efficient by applying existing non-proprietary cost-effective technologies that can reduce the combined costs of purchasing and operating those products.

(9)

The ecodesign requirements should not affect functionality from the end-user’s perspective and should not negatively affect health, safety or the environment. In particular, the benefits of reducing energy consumption during the use phase should more than offset any additional environmental impacts during the production and disposal phases.

(10)

The ecodesign requirements should be introduced gradually in order to provide a sufficient timeframe for manufacturers to redesign products subject to this Regulation. The timing should be such as to avoid negative impacts on the functionalities of equipment on the market, and to take into account cost impacts for end-users and manufacturers, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises, while ensuring timely achievement of the objectives of this Regulation.

(11)

Measurements of the relevant product parameters should be performed using reliable, accurate and reproducible measurement methods which take into account the recognised state-of-the-art measurement methods including, where available, harmonised standards adopted by the European standardisation bodies, as listed in Annex I to Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations and of rules on Information Society services (2).

(12)

In accordance with Article 8 of Directive 2009/125/EC, this Regulation should specify the applicable conformity assessment procedures.

(13)

In order to facilitate compliance checks, manufacturers should provide information in the technical documentation referred to in Annexes V and VI to Directive 2009/125/EC in so far as that information relates to the requirements laid down in this Regulation.

(14)

In addition to the legally binding requirements laid down in this Regulation, indicative benchmarks for best available technologies should be identified to ensure the wide availability and easy accessibility of information on the life-cycle environmental performance of products subject to this Regulation.

(15)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 19(1) of Directive 2009/125/EC,

(1)

‘household tumble drier’ means an appliance in which textiles are dried by tumbling in a rotating drum through which heated air is passed and which is designed to be used principally for non-professional purposes;

(2)

‘built-in household tumble drier’ means a household tumble drier intended to be installed in a cabinet, a prepared recess in a wall or a similar location, requiring furniture finishing;

(3)

‘household combined washer-drier’ means a household washing machine which includes both a spin extraction function and also a means for drying the textiles, usually by heating and tumbling;

(4)

‘household spin-extractor’, also known commercially as ‘spin-drier’, means an appliance in which water is removed from the textiles by centrifugal action in a rotating drum and drained through an automatic pump and which is designed to be used principally for non-professional purposes;

(5)

‘air-vented tumble drier’ means a tumble drier that draws in fresh air, passes it over the textiles and vents the resulting moist air into the room or outside;

(6)

‘condenser tumble drier’ means a tumble drier which includes a device (either using condensation or any other means) for removing moisture from the air used for the drying process;

(7)

‘automatic tumble drier’ means a tumble drier which switches off the drying process when a certain moisture content of the load is detected, for example through conductivity or temperature sensing;

(8)

‘non-automatic tumble drier’ means a tumble drier which switches off the drying process after a predefined period, usually controlled by a timer, but which may also be manually switched off;

(9)

‘programme’ means a series of operations that are predefined and which are declared by the manufacturer as suitable for drying certain types of textile;

(10)

‘cycle’ means a complete drying process, as defined for the selected programme;

(11)

‘programme time’ means the time that elapses from the initiation of the programme until the completion of the programme, excluding any end-user programmed delay;

(12)

‘rated capacity’ means the maximum mass in kilograms, indicated by the manufacturer in 0,5 kilogram increments of dry textiles of a particular type, which can be treated in a household tumble drier with the selected programme, when loaded in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions;

(13)

‘partial load’ means half of the rated capacity of a household tumble drier for a given programme;

(14)

‘condensation efficiency’ means the ratio between the mass of moisture condensed by a condenser tumble drier and the mass of moisture removed from the load at the end of a cycle;

(15)

‘off-mode’ means a condition where the household tumble drier is switched off using appliance controls or switches accessible to and intended for operation by the end-user during normal use to attain the lowest power consumption that may persist for an indefinite time while the household tumble drier is connected to a power source and used in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions; where there is no control or switch accessible to the end-user, ‘off-mode’ means the condition reached after the household tumble drier reverts to a steady-state power consumption on its own;

(16)

‘left-on mode’ means the lowest power consumption mode that may persist for an indefinite time after completion of the programme without any further intervention by the end-user besides unloading of the household tumble drier;

(17)

‘equivalent household tumble drier’ means a model of household tumble drier placed on the market with the same rated capacity, technical and performance characteristics, energy consumption, condensation efficiency where relevant, standard cotton programme time and airborne acoustical noise emissions during drying as another model of household tumble drier placed on the market under a different commercial code number by the same manufacturer.

(18)

‘standard cotton programme’ means the cycle which dries cotton laundry with an initial moisture content of the load of 60 % up to a remaining moisture content of the load of 0 %.

(a)

the generic ecodesign requirements set out in points 1.1 and 1.2 of Annex I shall apply from 1 November 2014;

(b)

the specific ecodesign requirements set out in point 2.2 of Annex I shall apply from 1 November 2015.