European Law Report - Eco-friendly measures
Saving our environment seems to be currently at the top of the list of the EU's agenda. In a matter of weeks, a number of important environment friendly measures have been adopted or implemented at an EU level. EU member states have recently agreed to...
Saving our environment seems to be currently at the top of the list of the EU's agenda. In a matter of weeks, a number of important environment friendly measures have been adopted or implemented at an EU level.
EU member states have recently agreed to slash the electricity consumption of a number of electronic goods as part of the EU's efforts to reduce energy wastage. The products targeted are lighting products typically used in street, office and industrial lighting such as fluorescent lamps, high-intensity discharge lamps and related ballasts and luminaires as well as simple set-top boxes which are used to convert digital broadcasting signals into analogue signals suitable for TV sets commonly used in EU households.
The electricity consumption of these lighting products has been reduced by 15 per cent while that of simple set-top boxes is geared to decrease by nearly three times of the current consumption by the year 2014 by which year it is estimated that the use of these boxes will peak. These measures are part and parcel of a number of initiatives aimed to improve energy-efficiency on a product-by product basis in line with a 2005 Framework Directive on Eco-design requirements for Energy-using Products. The scope of this 2005 law is precisely to increase energy savings from all consumer appliances running on electricity by ensuring that the design of electricity consuming products is environmentally-friendly.
It paved the way for the definition of eco-design specifications on a product-specific basis.
Another eco-friendly initiative has been the recent implementation of a new EU law regulating the collection and recycling of spent batteries. This law seeks to ensure that waste batteries are properly collected and recycled and to avoid the final disposal of batteries in the environment. It also makes producers of batteries responsible for the management of batteries in that they are obliged to finance the costs of the collection, treatment and recycling of waste batteries. It also contains restrictions on the use of some heavy metals such as mercury. This directive sets out a number of requirements governing the collection or take-back of all types of batteries and setting national collection targets for portable batteries. It makes provision for the collection of at least 25 per cent of the portable batteries used annually in each member state by 2012, rising to 45 per cent by 2016. It also enforces the requirement that all batteries collected must be recycled while imposing a ban on the landfilling or incineration of automotive and industrial batteries.
Such measures should not only be seen as a means of safeguarding our environment. In an era where the cost of fuel has reached sky high limits, measures which regulate the eco-design of electrical goods must also be seen as a concrete and maybe the most effective way of saving on electrical consumption and ever-increasing electricity bills.
Dr Vella Cardona is a freelance consultant in EU, intellectual property and competition law. She is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta.
EU member states have recently agreed to slash the electricity consumption of a number of electronic goods as part of the EU's efforts to reduce energy wastage. The products targeted are lighting products typically used in street, office and industrial lighting such as fluorescent lamps, high-intensity discharge lamps and related ballasts and luminaires as well as simple set-top boxes which are used to convert digital broadcasting signals into analogue signals suitable for TV sets commonly used in EU households.
The electricity consumption of these lighting products has been reduced by 15 per cent while that of simple set-top boxes is geared to decrease by nearly three times of the current consumption by the year 2014 by which year it is estimated that the use of these boxes will peak. These measures are part and parcel of a number of initiatives aimed to improve energy-efficiency on a product-by product basis in line with a 2005 Framework Directive on Eco-design requirements for Energy-using Products. The scope of this 2005 law is precisely to increase energy savings from all consumer appliances running on electricity by ensuring that the design of electricity consuming products is environmentally-friendly.
It paved the way for the definition of eco-design specifications on a product-specific basis.
Another eco-friendly initiative has been the recent implementation of a new EU law regulating the collection and recycling of spent batteries. This law seeks to ensure that waste batteries are properly collected and recycled and to avoid the final disposal of batteries in the environment. It also makes producers of batteries responsible for the management of batteries in that they are obliged to finance the costs of the collection, treatment and recycling of waste batteries. It also contains restrictions on the use of some heavy metals such as mercury. This directive sets out a number of requirements governing the collection or take-back of all types of batteries and setting national collection targets for portable batteries. It makes provision for the collection of at least 25 per cent of the portable batteries used annually in each member state by 2012, rising to 45 per cent by 2016. It also enforces the requirement that all batteries collected must be recycled while imposing a ban on the landfilling or incineration of automotive and industrial batteries.
Such measures should not only be seen as a means of safeguarding our environment. In an era where the cost of fuel has reached sky high limits, measures which regulate the eco-design of electrical goods must also be seen as a concrete and maybe the most effective way of saving on electrical consumption and ever-increasing electricity bills.
Dr Vella Cardona is a freelance consultant in EU, intellectual property and competition law. She is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta.