S.I. No. 170/1999 - European Communities (Energy Labelling of Household Lamps) Regulations, 1999.

I, MARY O'ROURKE, Minister for Public Enterprise, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purposes of giving effect to Commission Directive 98/11 of 27 January, 1998¹ and to Council Directive 92/75/EEC of 22 September 1992² , in so far as it applies to household lamps, hereby make the following Regulations:

Citation.

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Energy Labelling of Household Lamps) Regulations, 1999.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 1st day of July, 1999.

Interpretation.

2. (1) In these Regulations—

“authorised officer” means a person appointed as an authorised officer under Regulation 7(1),

“the Commission Directive” means Commission Directive 98/11 of 27 January, 1998¹ ,

“the Council Directive” means Council Directive 92/75/EEC of 22 September 1992² ,

“dealer” means a retailer or other person who sells, hires, offers for hire-purchase or displays lamps to end-users,

“the Directives” means the Commission Directive and the Council Directive,

“fiche” means a product fiche which complies with Schedule 2,

“label” means a label in the form set out in paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 and which complies with Schedule 1 and the Directives but does not include a rating plate or its equivalent affixed for safety purposes to a lamp,

“lamp”, subject to paragraph (2) means

(a) a household electric lamp supplied directly from the mains (filament and integral compact fluorescent lamps) or a household fluorescent lamp (including linear, and non-integral compact fluorescent lamps), even when marketed for non-household use, and

(b) in the case of a lamp which can be taken apart by end users, that part or parts which emit lights,

“the Minister” means the Minister for Public Enterprise.

“supplier” means a manufacturer of a lamp or his authorised representative in the Community or the person who places a lamp on the Community market.

(2) The following lamps are excluded:

(a) a second-hand lamp;

(b) a lamp in respect of a model of which production has ceased before the 1st day of July, 1999;

(c) a lamp with a luminous flux of more than 6,500 lumens;

(d) a lamp with an input power of less than 4 watts;

(e) a reflector lamp;

(f) a lamp marketed or commercialised primarily for use with other energy sources, such as batteries;

(g) a lamp not marketed or commercialised primarily for the production of light in the visible range (400 to 800nm);

(h) a lamp marketed or commercialised as part of a product, the primary purpose of which is not illuminative (with the exception of such a lamp where it is offered for sale, hire or hire purchase, or displayed separately, for example as a spare part, in which case these Regulations shall apply).

(3) A word or expression that is used in the Council Directive or the Commission Directive and is also used in these Regulations shall, unless the contrary intention appears, have in these Regulations the meaning that it has in the Council Directive or the Commission Directive, as the case may be.

(4) In these Regulations, unless otherwise indicated—

(a) a reference to a Regulation is to a Regulation of these Regulations;

(b) a reference to a paragraph is to a paragraph of the Regulation or Schedule in which the reference occurs;

(c) a reference to a Schedule is to a Schedule to these Regulations.

Application.

3. (1) These Regulations apply to new lamps

(2) These Regulations do not apply to—

(a) the placing on the market, the commercialisation or the display of a lamp, and

(b) the printed distribution referred to in Regulation 5 (2),

before the 31st day of December, 2000.

Duties of Suppliers.

4. (1) A supplier shall not place a lamp on the market unless—

(a) either

(i) he or she provides a fiche in a product brochure with the lamp, or

(ii) he or she supplies a fiche with other literature provided with the lamp,

(b) he or she supplies a label with the lamp,

(c) he or she ensures that the label is placed or printed on, or attached to, the outside of the individual packaging of the lamp in such a way as to be clearly visible and not obscured (Schedule 1 specifies how the label should be displayed in the case of very small packaging) and

(d) he or she has established technical documentation in the English language version in relation to the lamp sufficient to enable the accuracy of the information contained in the label and the fiche to be assessed.

(2) The technical documentation referred to in paragraph (1) shall include—

(a) the name, trade mark and address of the supplier,

(b) a general description of the lamp, sufficient for it to be uniquely identified,

(c) information (including any relevant drawings) on the main design features of the model and, in particular, items that appreciably affect its energy consumption,

(d) reports of any relevant measurement tests carried out on the model under the test procedures of the harmonised standards referred to in Article 1.4 of the Commission Directive, and

(e) instructions, if any, for operating the lamp.

(3) A supplier shall make the documentation specified in paragraph (2) available to authorised officers for the purpose of their functions for a period of 5 years after the last lamp concerned was manufactured.

(4) A supplier may, for the purpose of establishing the documentation aforesaid, use documentation already required on the basis of relevant Community legislation.

(5) A supplier shall be deemed to have given his or her consent to the publication of the information given on a label or fiche supplied by him or her.

(6) A supplier shall ensure that—

(a) the information on a label or fiche supplied by him or her is accurate, and

(b) when the supply by him or her of labels is requested by a dealer for the purpose of the display of a lamp, that the labels are delivered promptly to the dealer.

(7) A supplier shall supply free of charge to a dealer the necessary labels for the purpose of the display of lamps.

(8) A supplier may choose his or her own system for the delivery of labels to dealers.

(9) A supplier who fails to comply with the Regulation shall be guilty of an offence.

Duties of Dealers.

5. (1) A dealer shall not offer a lamp for sale, hire or hire-purchase or display it to end-users unless—

(a) a label, in the English language version, has been placed or printed on, or attached to, the outside of the individual packaging of the lamp in such a way as to be clearly visible and not obscured (Schedule 1 specifies how the label should be displayed in the case of very small packaging) or

(b) a fiche, in the English language version, is supplied with the lamp and is available for inspection by end-users before a sale or an agreement for hire or hire-purchase is concluded.

(2) Where a dealer offers a lamp for sale, hire or hire-purchase by means of a printed communication, such as a mail order or other catalogue, or in circumstances that imply that the potential customer cannot be expected to see the lamp displayed, the dealer shall ensure that the printed communication includes all the information specified in Schedule 3 and is in the English language version.

(3) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in relation to a lamp offered for sale, hire or hire-purchase by a dealer during the period ending on the 31st day of December, 2000.

(4) A dealer who fails to comply with this Regulation shall be guilty of an offence.

(5) A label or fiche shall be deemed to comply with these Regulations and the Directives unless there is evidence to the contrary.

Compliance.

6. (1) Subject to paragraph (2), a person who displays labels, marks, symbols or inscriptions relating to energy consumption which do not comply with the requirements of these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence if the display is likely to mislead or confuse.

(2) Paragraph (1) does not apply to displays for the purpose of Community or national environmental labelling schemes.

Authorised Officers.

7. (1) The Minister may appoint such and so many persons as he or she may determine to be authorised officers for the purposes of these Regulations.

(2) An authorised officer may, at all reasonable times, on production, if so requested by any person affected, of his or her warrant of appointment—

(a) enter any premises or other place or any vehicle if he or she reasonably believes that a lamp is kept therein or thereon for the purpose of being placed on the market,

(b) inspect the premises or other place or the vehicle,

(c) carry out or have carried out such examinations, tests, inspections and checks of any lamps found there as he or she reasonably considers to be necessary for the purposes of his or her functions and, if he or she so thinks fit, remove or have removed from there any lamp and retain the lamp for a reasonable period to facilitate such testing.

(d) require any person on or at the premises or other place or the vehicle to give to the officer any information in the person's power or control that the officer may reasonably require and to produce to him or her any records (in whatever form kept) or books or documents (including labels and fiches) that are in the person's power or control.

(e) inspect and copy or extract information from any data (within the meaning of the Data Protection Act, 1988 ) found by or produced to the officer under this Regulation,

(f) inspect and take copies of, or extracts from, any records (in whatever form kept), books or documents (including labels and fiches) found by or produced to the officer under this Regulation.

(3) If an authorised officer has reason to suspect that the information on a label or fiche is inaccurate, he or she may require the supplier concerned to furnish evidence (including technical documentation referred to in Regulation 4(1)) concerning its accuracy.

(4) A person who obstructs or impedes an authorised officer in the exercise of a power or, without reasonable excuse, does not comply with a requirement of an authorised officer under these Regulations or who, in purported compliance with such a requirement, gives information to an authorised officer that he or she knows to be false or misleading in a material respect shall be guilty of an offence.

Penalties and Offences.

8. (1) A person guilty of an offence under these Regulations shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500.

(2) Where an offence under these Regulations is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent and connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any person, being a director, manager, secretary or other officer, of such a body, or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that person, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.

(3) Proceedings for an offence under these Regulations may be brought by the Minister.

SCHEDULE 1

Regulation 2 (1)

THE LABEL

Label Design

1. The label shall be chosen from the following illustrations. Where the label is not printed on the packaging but a seperate label is placed on, or attached to the packaging, the colour version shall be used. If the “black on white” version of the label is used, the printing and background may be in any colours that preserve the legibility of the label.

2. The following notes define the information to be included:

Note

I.     The energy efficiency class of the lamp, determined in accordance with Schedule 4. This indicator letter shall be placed at the same level as the relevant arrow.

II.     The luminous flux of the lamp in lumens, measured in accordance with the test procedures of the harmonised standards referred to in Article 1(4).

III.    The input power (wattage) of the lamp, measured in accordance with the test procedures of the harmonised standards referred to in Article 1(4).

IV.   The average rated life of the lamp in hours, measured in accordance with the test procedures of the harmonised standards referred to in Article 1(4). Where no other information on the life of the lamp is included on the packaging, this may be omitted.

3. Where the information specified in II, III and, where applicable, IV of point 2 is included elsewhere on the packaging of the lamp, it may be omitted from the label, as may the box that contains it. The label shall then be chosen from the following illustrations:

Printing

4. The following defines certain aspects of the label:

The label shall be contained in a blank border of at least 5mm, as shown. Where there is no side of the packaging that is large enough to contain the label and this blank border, or where this would cover more than 50% of the surface area of the largest side, the label and border may be reduced but by no more than is required to meet both these conditions. However, in no case may the label be reduced to less than 40% (by length) of its standard size. Where the packaging is too small to take such a reduced label, the label must be attached to the lamp or the packaging. However, where a full size label is displayed together with the lamp (for example attached to the shelf on which the lamp is displayed) then the label may be omitted.

Colours used:

CMYK—cyan, magenta, yellow, black.

For example: 07X0: 0% cyan, 70% magenta, 100% yellow, 0% black.

Arrows:

Outline colour: X070

All text is in black. The background is white.

SCHEDULE 2

Regulation 2 (1)

THE FICHE

The fiche shall contain the information specified for the label.³

SCHEDULE 3

Regulation 5 (2)

MAIL ORDER AND OTHER DISTANCE SELLING

Mail order catalogues and other printed communication referred to in the Directives shall contain either a copy of the label, or the following information, given in the order specified:

1. Energy efficiency class (Schedule 1, Note 1)

Expressed as “Energy efficiency class ...on a scale of A (more efficient) to G (less efficient)”. Where this information is provided in a table this may be expressed by other means provided it is clear that the scale is from A (more efficient) to G (less efficient).

2. Luminous flux of the lamp (Schedule I, Note II)

3. Input power (Schedule I, Note III)

4. Average rated life of lamp (Schedule I, Note IV) (Where no other information on the life of the lamp is given in the catalogue, this may be omitted).

SCHEDULE 4

Regulation 2 (2)

The energy efficiency class of a lamp shall be determined as follows:

Lamps shall be classified in class A if:

— Fluorescent lamps without integral ballast

(those requiring a ballast and/or other control gear to connect them to the mains)

W ≤ 0.15 √ϕ+0.0097 ϕ

— Other lamps

W ≤ 0.24 √ϕ+0.0103 ϕ

where ϕ is the lumen output of the lamp

where W is the power input into the lamp in watts.

If a lamp is not classified in class A, a reference wattage W_R shall be calculated as follows:

W_R=0.88 √ϕ+0.049 ϕ when ϕ > 34 lumens

0.2 ϕ,         when ϕ ≤ 34 lumens

where ϕ is the lumen output of the lamp.

An energy efficiency index E₁ is then set as

where W is the power input into the lamp in watts.

The energy efficiency classes are then set in accordance with the following table:

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

The purpose of the Regulations is to give legal effect to Commission Directive 98/11 of 27th January, 1998 and Council Directive 92/75/EEC of 22nd September, 1992 in so far as they relate to household lamps.

These Regulations apply to lamps. Certain lamps are excluded.

The Regulations prohibit the placing on the market, for sale, hire or reward, of lamps unless accompanied by information relating to the consumption of electric energy in addition to some supplementary information. This information is to be conveyed to the customer by means of a specified label and an associated fiche (product information notice). The Regulations place the onus for the accuracy of the labels and fiches on the manufacturers, who will also be required to establish technical documentation sufficient to enable the accuracy of the information contained in the labels and the fiches to be assessed.

Provision is made for the appointment and powers of authorised officers and penalties for offences under the Regulations, in addition to a transitional period to facilitate those who have been unable or have not had a reasonable opportunity to comply with the Regulations.

¹ O.J. No. L71, 10.3.1998, p.1.

² O.J. No. L297, 13.10.1992, p.16.

¹ O.J. No. L71, 10.3.1998, p.1.

² O.J. No. L297, 13.10.1992, p.16.

³ Where product brochures are not supplied, the label provided with the product can also be considered to be the fiche.