The Study

The European Commission DG ENER (Directorate-General for Energy) has entered a contract with Viegand Maagøe, Fraunhofer IZM and Intertek on a back-to-back evaluation and impact assessment study for the review Commission Regulation (EU) No 2019/2021 of 1 October 2019 laying down ecodesign requirements for electronic displays, and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2019/2013 of 11 March 2019 with regard to energy labelling of electronic displays.

Politicy context

Highlights of the political context regarding product policy relevant for this study are:

• The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)
• The Energy Labelling Framework Regulation ((EU) 2017/1369) (EL)
• The Circular Economy Action Plans (December 2015 and March 2020) (CEAP)
• The Sustainable Products Initiative (SPI) and 
• The Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Working Plan 2022-2024 

Commission Regulation (EU) No 2019/2021 was adopted as an implementing measure under Directive 2009/125/EC. The legislative process for replacing this Directive with an Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which was proposed by the Commission in March 2022, is well advanced. This can reasonably mean that by the time a replacement is ready for the Regulation, it will be adopted under the framework required by the ESPR.

The ESPR is likely to explicitly require consideration of a range of circular economy related aspects, in addition to what has been consider already. If appropriate, measures related to these would be assessed in the Impact Assessment and where judged desirable  be included in the legal proposals. In addition, there are expected to be requirements  related to the identification and tracking of substances of concern.

Regarding the energy labelling, it important to highlight that electronic displays placed on the European Market are also registered at the EPREL Database. In May 2022, the database was launched for public access and consultation and it is an important source of information.

Objectives

The aim of the specific contract is to assist the Commission in a so-called back-to-back evaluation and impact assessment in order to review both regulations:

• Commission Regulation (EU) No 2019/2021 of 1 October 2019 laying down ecodesign requirements for electronic displays, and 
• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2019/2013 of 11 March 2019 with regard to energy labelling of electronic displays.

More specifically, the study objectives are to assist the Commission with:

• gathering input from stakeholders
• all the steps related to the evaluation and impact assessment of the two regulations
• all the steps involved in drafting the impact assessment
• preparing draft legal texts for the revision of both regulations.

Methodology

Two main tasks have to be carried out in a back-to-back review process: 

• Evaluation 
• Impact assessment 

Usually, evaluation and impact assessment are conducted sequentially so that the results of the evaluation process can be fully used in the subsequent impact assessment process. According to this so-called ‘back-to-back’ manner, evaluations and impact assessments will be launched at the same time and carried out (in a so-called ‘back-to-back’ manner) as a single process.

Moreover, the Study Team will support stakeholder consultation activities by defining and implement a comprehensive consultation strategy, aiming to gather information from all the identified stakeholder categories and meet the evaluation and impact assessment requirements.

This support to the consultation activities will include:

• Preparing a questionnaire that will be the basis for the public consultation planned by the European Commission for the second quarter 2024. 
• Organising and taking part in consultation meetings to present together with the Commission the back-to-back study and its main outcomes.
• Organising and taking part in specific consultations with relevant stakeholders so that systematic and reliable input is received for those aspects of the evaluation for which information from stakeholders is needed, including the organisation of multilateral meetings, whenever this is necessary.
• Keeping records about the content and time of the information exchanged, which will be available to the Commission.

Timeline

Main milestones relevant for the stakeholders are:

• Open Public Consultation: expected to be available during spring 2024 at: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/13859-Ecodesign-electronic-displays-review-of-requirements-_en