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There is a common but unfortunate habit in many organisations to separate the work on technical issues from commercial or even ‘political’ matters.
This has become ever more obvious since the government and the regulatory authorities are imposing technical – particularly environmental – specifications on how we manufacture and market our products. So our response to these activities has to be broad and comprehensive.
One of the ways we keep AMDEA members informed of developments which affect them is through our monthly Technical News. A quick trawl through this month’s edition serves to illustrate what we are up against.
Predicting energy consumption
Defra, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has opened a consultation on projected trends in energy consumption and the UK market share for energy-using products. One of the aims of this consultation is to inform Defra’s negotiating position as new energy efficiency requirements are set for products covered by the EU Ecodesign Regulations. This relates to washing machines, tumble driers and various small appliances. Defra also makes it clear that it expects this exercise to help it to develop further policy measures or strengthen those already in place.
The consultation is called ‘Saving Energy through Better Products and Appliances’ and gives an overview of energy efficiency product policy before outlining energy consumption scenarios up to 2030. These scenarios consider how UK energy demand might fare both with and without developments in existing product policy. The consultation additionally looks at key trends, assumptions and potential policy impacts for specific groupings of products inclusive of domestic appliances and cooking appliances.
The consultation is of interest to both the manufacturers and retailers of domestic appliances since it is seeking to make predictions on the installed base of domestic appliances and how much energy these appliances will use. AMDEA is consulting its members with a view to responding to this consultation, which is asking for answers to specific questions including whether the projected market share for products is set at the right level and whether any policy measures have been missed.
Regulating hazardous substances
The same edition of AMDEA’s Technical News contains an article on REACH, the EU’s wide-ranging chemicals legislation.
Fourteen additions have been made to the REACH Candidate List of Substances of Very High Concern. One of the chief aims of REACH is to improve the regulation of particularly hazardous or “high concern” substances, and the Candidate List is a mechanism for doing this.
The additions may affect AMDEA members if the substances on the Candidate List are present in their products above a concentration value of 0.1% w/w (weight by weight). If this is the case, companies will have to provide recipients (eg distributors and retailers) of their products with:
- At the very minimum, the name(s) of the substance(s); and
- If applicable, specific “safe use” information.
There is also a requirement relating to consumer requests for information: those companies who supply products (eg manufacturers, importers) must provide consumers with names of Substances of Very High Concern found in their products above 0.1% w/w as well as any particular information pertaining to safe use within 45 days.
Rest assured, retailers alongside manufacturers will be expected to play their part in this process.
The 14 additions to the Candidate List include a number of plasticisers and several compounds of lead which can be applied to domestic appliances and their packaging. AMDEA has compiled a full list of all the substances on the Candidate List, which currently numbers 29 in total.
At the same time, the European Commission has stated that it now intends to go beyond simple assessment of individual chemicals and enter the field of ‘chemical cocktails’, ie what happens when you mix chemicals in current use together.
AMDEA has produced a Guide to REACH for our members which provides a summary of the Regulation and how it relates to domestic appliances.
There is much more in this month’s Technical News – on the WEEE and RoHS Directives, on Standby and External Supplies, on Ozone Depleting Substances (in refrigerators) and more. It all serves to emphasise the need to be vigilant in the face of ever greater regulatory pressure coming from technical requirements.
