Energy labelling
Energy labelling provides comparable information on electrical products’ energy consumption and its purpose is to influence consumers to buy energy-efficient products. The energy label also includes other important information that varies depending on the product type — for example, spin efficiency for washing machines and durability for mobile phones.
The energy label is not voluntary, but mandatory for those product groups for which an energy labeling regulation has been issued.
The manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that the product is in compliance with the implementing regulations and that the product comes with energy labelling.
The most important thing in terms of the legislation is that the consumer sees the energy label before making a purchase decision, whether that decision is made in a store, online store or based on an advertisement. The energy label, or at least information on the energy class, should be as clear as the product price.
The product-group-specific regulations and more information on the Energy Labelling Regulation are available on the Energy Authority’s websites Ekosuunnittelu.info and Energiamerkintä.fi (in Finnish and Swedish).
An electrical product is considered to meet the requirements of the Energy Labelling Regulation, when
- the product is equipped with an energy label and product description in accordance with the Regulation, and
- the information on the energy label and the product description is correct, and
- the energy label is correctly affixed at the place of sale
- the energy class and the scale of energy classes are stated in advertisements that also mention the product’s price
- all required information is provided with the product in remote sakes and online stores
- the product information has been entered into the EPREL database for energy labeling.
Product fiche
In addition to requiring that products bear an energy label, most energy labelling regulations also require a product fiche. The content requirements of the product fiche vary between the regulations, but in addition to product information, the description must usually also include the dimensions of the product, the energy efficiency index, the energy efficiency class, the standby power consumption and the sound level class. The information in the product description must be entered into the EPREL product database for energy labelling.
EPREL product database
The EPREL product database for energy labelling is mandatory for all products subject to the energy labelling obligation. In other words, if an energy labelling requirement applies to the product, its information must also be entered into EPREL. There are three sides to the system: corporate; consumer; and authoritative. On the consumer side, only a small part of the information entered by the business is visible, while the side for the authorities shows more of it.
The system is created and maintained by the EU, and its use requires personal EU credentials. Create credentials
The EPREL wiki provides instructions on how to use the system, such as how to register a business, and how to enter products into the system. You can find the wiki here.
And if after all the instructions, something doesn’t work the way it should, the helpdesk can help you best [email protected].
Energy labelling in a store
For light sources, the energy label must be on the product packaging at the point of sale, but for other product groups, the label must be on the surface of the showpiece unit in the store – for example on the door of a refrigerator. It is not enough to include the energy label in a bag inside the showpiece unit. In addition to the visible energy label, the store must ensure that they can give the customer the product description on paper on request.
Images of badly displayed labels
Energy labelling in an online store
Regardless of the shopping channel, the energy label must be visible to the consumer before they make the purchase decision. The energy label and product fiche must therefore also be clearly visible near the price in online stores. Whenever a product can be moved to a shopping basket in an online store, the energy label must be displayed in connection with the price. This should be taken into account if the customer can already place the product in the shopping basket on the product listing page.
The energy label can be displayed either in its entirety or in a layered display mode. More information on what this means in practice (in Finnish)
Energy labelling in advertisements
Visual advertising, technical promotional material and remote sales must indicate the energy efficiency class of the products and the used scale of energy efficiency classes and the information provided in connection with remote sales and telemarketing.
Remote sales based on telemarketing especially should inform the customer of the product’s energy efficiency class and the scale of energy efficiency classes used on the label, and the consumer must be able to obtain the label’s details and the product description from an online product database or a printed copy on request.