In line with the principles of equal treatment and the protection of legitimate expectations, adherence to the guidance set out in Commission Communication 2014/C207/02 is essential. Specifically, testing the heating energy efficiency of combination heat pumps should be conducted in the ‘out-of-the-box’ mode, as explicitly defined in Commission Communication 2014/C207/03, Section 4.
If a manufacturer’s instructions, including the user manual or commissioning documentation, specify default settings or require a specific configuration during commissioning, that configuration must be treated as the ‘out-of-the-box’ mode. Any setting that is required by the manufacturer for the product to function as intended after installation is, by definition, the operational mode that must be used for compliance testing.
“The ‘out-of-the-box-mode’ is the standard operating condition, setting or mode set by the manufacturer at factory level, to be active immediately after the appliance installation, suitable for normal use by the end-user according to the water tapping pattern for which the product has been designed and placed on the market. Any change to a different operating condition, setting or mode, if applicable, shall be the result of an intentional intervention by the end-user, and cannot be automatically modified by the water heater at any time, except for smart control function adapting the water heating process to individual usage conditions with the aim of reducing energy consumption.”
If a manufacturer provides an alternative setting that is only intended to achieve compliance under test conditions but is not the default or the commissioned setting for normal use this would be a clear case of illegal circumventing behaviour.
Disclaimer: Please note that the European Commission cannot provide a legally binding interpretation of the EU legislation, as this is the sole competence of the European Court of Justice. Any remarks from the European Commission services are without prejudice to the position the Commission might take should related cases arise in a procedure before the Court of Justice.