What is a supplier ?
For the precise definition of supplier, please check the Glossary of Terms.
In EPREL suppliers are represented by Supplier organisations that are managed by one or more Supplier administrators. These organisations have a list of available trademarks and contacts to be used when registering models. They may have other Supplier users that register models and Supplier readers that can just see the models registered by their colleagues.
What is EPREL ?
As of 1 January 2019, Suppliers (manufacturers, importers or authorized representatives) need to register their product models, which require an energy label, in the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling (EPREL), before placing on the EU/EEA market the first product of a model in the scope of the Labelling legislation.
EPREL represents the platform that Suppliers must use for registering their product models.
The database includes publicly accessible information (part of which is reflected in the Energy Label and the remaining in the Product Information Sheet (or product Fiche)) and technical information, accessible only to Member State Market Surveillance Authorities (MSAs) for their compliance control duties (Figure 1)
EPREL offers various options for Suppliers to register product models:
- Interactively, through EPREL interface – by manually entering each required field, one-by-one
- Interactively, through EPREL interface - by registering product models at scale, through ZIP Files upload (containing XMLs with data of multiple models)
- System-to-system communication (e-Delivery) – by automatically registering product models at scale, through a direct integration with the European Commission e-Delivery component.
First time in EPREL ?
EPREL is hosted by the European Commission. To access it, you first need to create and EU Login account. When entering the EPREL platform for the first time, by directly accessing the EPREL URL, you are asked to create your EPREL Organisation. Once you have created your Organisation, you automatically become a Supplier Admin and can start inviting other users, to perform the product registration work in your Organisation workspace. You can also receive an email invitation from your Supplier Admin, to join your EPREL Organisation.
More in detail, here are the steps on how to get started as a Supplier Admin:
1. create an EU Login account[1]:
2. log into EPREL[2]: when you first log in EPREL, without having been invited by an existing user, you automatically become the Supplier Administrator (Admin/Supplier Admin) and need to create your EPREL Organisation profile (you may later delegate this role to another Supplier Admin).
3. Create your EPREL Organization: In this phase you will be asked to indicate if the Organisation you are creating is a Legal Entity or Natural Person: this refers to the legal nature of the Organisation for which you are registering product models.
4. Create your EPREL Trademarks: Supplier Admins are the only users entitled to create the trademarks (brands) to be used in the registration of models. It is mandatory to define at least one trademark, in order to start registering product models.
You can add trademarks at any moment, later in the process: when registering models you can select the appropriate trademark from a dropdown list of trademarks already defined.
5. Create your EPREL Contacts: Supplier Admins are the only users entitled to create the contacts to be used in the registration of models. It is mandatory to define at least one contact, in order to start registering product models.
You can add contacts at any moment, later in the process: when registering models, you must indicate one “Public contact” where citizens can address their questions, you can select the appropriate contact from a dropdown list of contacts already defined.
6. Invite Members to your Organisation: Supplier Admins can invite additional users to become Supplier Admins, Supplier Users and Supplier Readers of the Organisation and manage models registrations. An Organisation can have multiple Supplier Admins, all having rights to edit the Organisation profile.
7. Get your EPREL Organisation verified: this is required to ensure that your organisation is entitled to act as Supplier, in respect to the obligations deriving from the Regulation and that you, as Supplier Admin, are enabled to register models on behalf of your organisation. Before you register any model, your organisation needs to be a “verified” supplier[3].
8. Start registering products – once you have reached this step, you are all set and ready to start registering product models for your organisation. Usually product registration is performed by Supplier Users, but the Supplier Admin can also to do it[4].
Here are some overview steps on how to get started, as a User or Reader, when you receive an email invitation from your Supplier Administrator:
1. Access EPREL and create an EU Login account: you can access EPREL either through the invitation link you received over email, or by directly entering the EPREL URL[5] in your browser, and start creating your EU Login account. Once you do that, you will be assigned to your Organisation with the role given by your Administrator.
2. Start registering products: if the Supplier Admin attributed to you a role of Supplier User, once you reach this step, you are all set and ready to start registering your product models.
3. Browse products: you may be invited as Supplier Reader, to perform tasks other than registering/modify models. In such a case you cannot enter new models or modify content
[1] https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/cas/login?loginRequestId=ECAS
[2] https://energy-label.ec.europa.eu/compliance
[3] Exclusively during a transitional period from the start of the new verification procedure, existing suppliers having already registered models in EPREL are entitled to continue register models. New supplier organisations, however, need to be verified before starting registering the first model.
[4] E.g. in a small organisation or to perform massive data uploads, or to register only a few models, a single user can normally perform all tasks.
Roles and permissions
Profiles define what roles users can have; what they can see and do within the application. Permissions represent a set of authorization rights given to users, specifying what tasks or features they can access and perform inside the application.
In EPREL, each supplier organization has several standard profiles, each with its own set of permissions that can be assigned to the organization’s users. Multiple types of profiles, with different permission, have been created in order to give suppliers more flexibility, control and security over their organization and registered products.