Proposal for a Council Decision on the conclusion of the Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the European Union on the coordination of energy-efficiency labelling programmes for office equipment

Article 194 TFUE states that one of the objectives of EU energy policy is the efficient use of energy. Office equipment accounts for an important share of the electricity consumption of the EU.

To date, the main means of improving the energy consumption of office equipment has been the EU Energy Star Programme. This was established by the US Environmental Protection Agency and is implemented in the EU on the basis of an Agreement between the US and the EU, which was renewed in 2006 for a period of 5 years. From 2008, the programme was reinforced by Regulation (EC) No 106/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008 on a Community energy-efficiency labelling programme for office equipment.

On the basis of a Commission Recommendation the Council authorised the Commission to negotiate a new agreement on 12 July 2011. The negotiations based on this mandate were concluded on 28 November 2011. In line with this Council Decision the Energy Working Group of the Council was consulted and assisted the Commission in the negotiations. The proposed agreement is fully in line with the negotiating directives provided by the Council.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)108: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:108:FIN

ESO: Background information: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a European Union energy-efficiency labelling programme for office equipment amending Regulation (EC) No 106/2008 on a Community energy-efficiency labelling programme for office equipment http://www.europeansources.info/record/proposal-for-a-regulation-of-the-european-parliament-and-of-the-council-on-a-european-union-energy-efficiency-labelling-programme-for-office-equipment-amending-regulation-ec-no-106-2008-on-a-communi/

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