Commission clarifies rules for energy labelling in visual advertising following Court ruling

On 15 July 2024 the Commission published a clarification (Commission Notice) of how suppliers and retailers of energy-labelled products should show energy label classes in their visual advertising and promotional material. The Notice follows a European Court of Justice ruling in October 2023 relating to energy labelling of ovens and range hoods, but which has implications for other products. The ruling stated that it was not sufficient only to show the class of the product (e.g. “A” or “B”) in advertisements, but it was necessary also to show the relevant range of classes (e.g “A+++ to D” or “A to G”). Since 2021, energy labelling rules have been updated and rescaled for some product categories, so that the range is not higher than “A”. For products that have not yet been rescaled, however, the most efficient class can vary between “A” and “A+++”, and the least efficient is not always “G”. The Court’s ruling will provide more clarity for consumers and the guidance published by the Commission is intended to help suppliers and dealers become more aware of the ruling and to operationalise the changes needed as a result of it.

In light of this, the Commission considers that economic operators, wherever possible and until the adoption of a relevant/specific delegated act reviewing the product-specific regulation on the basis of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369, should use a letter in an arrow (i.e. "the class arrow") alongside the range, in line with the practice in delegated regulations adopted under Regulation (EU) 2017/1369”. Suppliers of other energy-labelled products which have not yet been rescaled (into the new G to A scale) should also include such a class arrow with the relevant range wherever possible (in printed material and in on-line sales).

Correct class arrow indication examples in the case of a range from D up to A+++ .

The relevant images of the class arrows for different combinations of ratings and ranges can be downloaded here for each of the relevant product groups.

From 1 August 2024, the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling (EPREL) will only show the class arrows with the range.

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to retrieve from EPREL the class arrows with the range will be available from September 2024 (updates will follow).