The European Union and its member states will soon discuss minimum ecological requirements for electronic products such as computers and monitors, and imaging equipment such as copiers, printers and faxes.
The environmental organisations supporting the Coolproducts campaign are worried that the proposals that have emerged so far lack sufficient ambition. They are particularly concerned about the voluntary industry initiative proposed by imaging equipment manufacturers, which may replace a mandatory regulation if it was adopted by the EU. They think it should be rejected.
These product groups will be discussed in a stakeholder consultation on 9th and 12th October in Brussels, so we'll be writing more about this.
In a nutshell, here is what NGOs are asking for:
- Mandatory limits to the energy consumption of computers and monitors based on the most recent specifications for Energy Star (5.0) - an energy efficiency measurement & labelling programme that the European Union has "imported" from the US;
- Provisions on other non-energy ecological aspects such as toxic chemical content or product recyclability;
- More visible consumer information, with an A-G energy label introduced on monitors and some information on the energy consumption of computers at the point of sale.
A more detailed document for specialists can be found here.