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Legislation Translation >> EuP Compliance Solutions
With the objective of increasing energy efficiency and protecting the environment, the EuP ecodesign Directive is new European CE Marking legislation that will affect the entire life cycle of electrical and electronic products from design and production to end-life disposal. As such, this Directive will have more of an impact on the way companies launch their products than any other piece of EU legislation.
TIMELINE
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The EuP Directive: An Overview
The EuP Directive will require manufacturers and importers to assess the environmental aspects of their products throughout their life cycle, and then based on this assessment to evaluate alternative design solutions, with the aim of improving the environmental performance of their products. For many companies, this will fundamentally change the design process and necessitate major changes to company management systems. As a CE Marking Directive, the requirements of the EuP Directive will have to be factored in alongside EMC, safety, radio and other requirements. The first products affected (as highlighted in the image below) will also have to comply within a matter of months so if you have not already started, work on preparing for compliance needs to start now.
OBJECTIVE
The Directive aims to encourage manufacturers and/or importers to produce products which are designed to minimize their overall environmental impact, including the resources consumed in their production and disposal.
SCOPE
The EuP Directive applies to energy-using products being sold on the EU market in large quantities and posing a significant threat to the environment; some of the priority products affected as of 2008 are highlighted in the image below.
The scope is deliberately broad covering, in principle, any product which when in use depends on, generates, transfers or measures energy (electricity, fossil fuel or renewable). Significantly, the Directive also covers parts, components and assemblies which are intended to be used in energy using products but does not cover methods of transportation (automotive or aerospace)
Click this link for more detailed overview of initial products affected by Implementing Measures
RESPONSIBILITY
Under the Directive, manufacturers and importers are responsible for compliance. Manufacturers must ensure that their energy-using products comply with the applicable requirements, issue a declaration of conformity and mark the product with the CE Mark. If the manufacturer is established outside the EU and has no authorized representative in the EU, the importer will be required to ensure compliance.
COMPLYING WITH THE EUP DIRECTIVE
As a New Approach Directive, manufacturers or those responsible for compliance, such as importers/retailers, can demonstrate compliance using one of the two following options:
- Internal Design Control: A technical documentation file process that contains the evidence of compliance (ecodesign requirements contained within the implementing measure, design processes and measures taken, measurements and assessment of improvements made in environmental impact, etc…). Compliance with specific ecodesign Harmonized Standards (to be published) will also demonstrate compliance.
- Full Quality Assurance: An alternative option is to manage your products under a “Full Quality Assurance” approach embracing process and quality controls. This can be used by companies who have a management system along the lines of EMAS or ISO 14001.
In both cases, manufacturers must perform an assessment of the EuP model throughout its life cycle, based upon realistic assumptions about normal conditions and purposes of use and then establish the EuP's ecological profile.
Products which have been awarded the Eco-label will be considered as compliant with the implementing measures in so far as the Eco-label meets the requirements of the implementing measure. Although the EMAS registration on its own does not grant presumption of compliance to the products manufactured by the enterprise, enterprises which have an EMAS registration, which includes product design, may use directly their environmental management system for demonstrating that their product complies with the applicable implementing measure.
View Implementing Measures
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