Judgments nº T-544/13 RENV of Tribunal General de la Unión Europea, November 08, 2018

• Resolution Date: November 08, 2018
• Issuing Organization: Tribunal General de la Unión Europea
• Decision Number: T-544/13 RENV

(Directive 2010/30/EU - Indication by labelling and standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by energy-related products - Commission delegated regulation supplementing the directive - Energy labelling of vacuum cleaners - Essential element of an enabling act)

In Case T-544/13 RENV,

Dyson Ltd, established in Malmesbury (United Kingdom), represented by F. Carlin, Barrister, E. Batchelor and M. Healy, Solicitors, and A. Patsa, lawyer,

applicant,

v

European Commission, represented by L. Flynn, K. Herrmann and K. Talabér-Ritz, acting as Agents,

defendant,

APPLICATION pursuant to Article 263 TFEU seeking the annulment of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 665/2013 of 3 May 2013 supplementing Directive 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to energy labelling of vacuum cleaners (OJ 2013 L 192, p. 1),

THE GENERAL COURT (Fifth Chamber),

composed of D. Gratsias, President, I. Labucka (Rapporteur) and I. Ulloa Rubio, Judges,

Registrar: N. Schall, Administrator,

having regard to the written part of the procedure and further to the hearing on 13 March 2018,

gives the following

Judgment

1 By its application, the applicant, Dyson Ltd, a company incorporated under the law of England and Wales that employs 4 400 people worldwide and designs, manufactures and markets bagless vacuum cleaners in over 60 countries, seeks the annulment of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 665/2013 of 3 May 2013 supplementing Directive 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to energy labelling of vacuum cleaners (OJ 2013 L 192, p. 1) (‘the contested regulation’).

Legal context

2 The contested regulation was adopted by the European Commission in order to supplement Directive 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the indication by labelling and standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by energy-related products (OJ 2010 L 153, p. 1), with respect to energy labelling of vacuum cleaners.

Directive 2010/30

3 According to Article 1(1) and (2) thereof, Directive 2010/30 ‘establishes a framework for the harmonisation of national measures on end-user information, particularly by means of labelling and standard product information, on the consumption of energy and where relevant of other essential resources during use, and supplementary information concerning energy-related products, thereby allowing end-users to choose more efficient products’, with the directive applying ‘to energy-related products which have a significant direct or indirect impact on the consumption of energy and, where relevant, on other essential resources during use’.

4 Article 5(a) of Directive 2010/30 provides that Member States are to ensure that ‘suppliers placing on the market or putting into service products covered by a delegated act supply a label and a fiche in accordance with [that directive] and the delegated act’.

5 Article 10 of Directive 2010/30, entitled ‘Delegated acts’, provides:

‘1. The Commission shall lay down details relating to the label and the fiche by means of delegated acts in accordance with Articles 11 to 13, relating to each type of product in accordance with this Article.

Where a product meets the criteria listed in paragraph 2, it shall be covered by a delegated act in accordance with paragraph 4.

Provisions in delegated acts regarding information provided on the label and in the fiche on the consumption of energy and other essential resources during use shall enable end-users to make better informed purchasing decisions and shall enable market surveillance authorities to verify whether products comply with the information provided.

Where a delegated act lays down provisions with respect to both energy efficiency and consumption of essential resources of a product, the design and content of the label shall emphasise the energy efficiency of the product.

2. The criteria referred to in paragraph 1 are the following:

   (a) according to most recently available figures and considering the quantities placed on the Union market, the products shall have a significant potential for saving energy and, where relevant, other essential resources;

   (b) products with equivalent functionality available on the market shall have a wide disparity in the relevant performance levels;

   (c) the Commission shall take into account relevant Union legislation and self-regulation, such as voluntary agreements, which are expected to achieve the policy objectives more quickly or at lesser expense than mandatory requirements.

3. In preparing a draft delegated act, the Commission shall:

   (a) take into account those environmental parameters set out in Annex I, Part 1, to Directive 2009/125/EC which are identified as significant in the relevant implementing measure adopted under Directive 2009/125/EC and which are relevant for the end-user during use;

   (b) assess the impact of the act on the environment, end-users and manufacturers, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in terms of competitiveness including on markets outside the Union, innovation, market access and costs and benefits;

   (c) carry out appropriate consultation with stakeholders;

   (d) set implementing date(s), any staged or transitional measures or periods, taking into account in particular possible impacts on SMEs or on specific product groups manufactured primarily by SMEs.

4. The delegated acts shall specify in particular:

   (a) the exact definition of the type of products to be included;

   (b) the measurement standards and methods to be used in obtaining the information referred to in Article 1(1);

   (c) the details of the technical documentation required pursuant to Article 5;

   (d) the design and content of the label referred to in Article 4, which as far as possible shall have uniform design characteristics across product groups and shall in all cases be clearly visible and legible. The format of the label shall retain as a basis the classification using letters from A to G; the steps of the classification shall correspond to significant energy and cost savings from the end-user perspective.

   Three additional classes may be added to the classification if required by technological progress. Those additional classes will be A+, A++, and A+++ for the most efficient class. In principle the total number of classes will be limited to seven, unless more classes are still populated.

   The colour scale shall consist of no more than seven different colours from dark green to red. The colour code of only the highest class shall always be dark green. If there are more than seven classes, only the red colour can be duplicated.

   The classification shall be reviewed in particular when a significant proportion of products on the internal market achieves the two highest energy efficiency classes and when additional savings may be achieved by further differentiating products.

   Detailed criteria for a possible reclassification of products are, where appropriate, to be determined on a case-by-case basis in the relevant delegated act;

   (e) …

   (f) the content and, where appropriate, the format and other details concerning the fiche or further information specified in Article 4 and Article 5(c). The information on the label shall also be included on the fiche;

   (g) the specific content of the label for advertising...