Closing the E-commerce gap: strengthening EU enforcement of energy efficiency standards

Peer-reviewed paper 3-048-26

Online sales of appliances to EU consumers are high and increasing. E-commerce offers advantages in terms of greater choice and lower costs, but also creates risks.

For energy-using products, there are consequences to the environment and fair market operation if energy performance regulations are not met. In the EU, ecodesign requirements work alongside mandatory energy labels to save hundreds of TWh of energy in the EU annually. However, regulations are only effective if they are complied with. E-commerce has introduced different sales models and new actors that challenge existing regulatory and Monitoring, Verification and Enforcement regimes, including for ecodesign and energy labels.

This paper compares EU online compliance provisions with those in other jurisdictions, all members of the IEA 4E TCP. It finds that the EU has been at the forefront in developing regulations to protect consumers buying products online. However, the picture is more mixed for online MVE of ecodesign and energy labels, with some jurisdictions having stronger enforcement mechanisms or clearer seller obligations. Based on best practices in other countries, the paper makes several suggestions for legal and procedural improvements in the EU.