Lighting products are currently subject to four sets of lighting regulations that implement the ecodesign directive (Directive 2009/125/EU) for energy-using products. They are as follows:

• EC Regulation 244/2009 – with regard to ecodesign requirements for non-directional household lamps. This covers lamps such as incandescent lamps, compact fluorescent lamps with integrated ballast, and halogen lamps. This regulation also led to the phasing-out of incandescent light bulbs from the European market.
• EC Regulation 245/2009 – with regard to ecodesign requirements for fluorescent lamps without integrated ballast, for high intensity discharge lamps, and for ballasts and luminaires able to operate such lamps. This regulation mainly covers lamps used in an office environment and street lighting, such as linear fluorescent lamps, compact fluorescent lamps without integrated ballast, and high-intensity discharge lamps. A requirement of this regulation has also led to the removal of high-pressure mercury lamps from the European market and set requirements for control gear which ignite and controls the flow of current inside certain lamps.
• EC Regulation 1194/2012 – with regard to ecodesign requirements for directional lamps, light emitting diode lamps and related equipment for directional lamps (spot lamps) such as light emitting diodes (LEDs). This regulation, combined with EC Regulation 244/2009, also sets out the efficiency, functionality and information requirements that these lighting products must meet.
• EC Regulation 2015/1428 – amending EC Regulation 244/2009 and EC Regulation 245/2009, and repealing Directive 2000/55/EC and aspects of Regulation 1194/2012. This regulation serves to improve the energy efficiency and sets new requirements to reduce the misuse of “Special Purpose Lamps”.

The European Commission  is currently in the process of planning to integrate these ecodesign regulations for lighting into a new Single Lighting Regulation (SLR). The aims of this consolidated regulation are as follows:

• to simplify the ecodesign regulations for lighting products by consolidating the existing regulations and their requirements into a single regulation. This will facilitate market surveillance and ease the administrative burden associated with having a number of regulations for the industry to abide by, and the Market Surveillance Authorities and the EC to enforce.
• to replace outdated technical definitions such as “lamp” and “luminaire”, with “lighting product” and “lighting product component”, tightening the scope for exemptions and reducing the risk of bypassing the regulation during market surveillance. It is also expected to facilitate market surveillance, reassessing the verification tolerances, reducing the required number of test parameters, test samples, and the test duration used during verification by market surveillance authorities.
• to increase the minimum energy efficiency thresholds currently in operation to reflect technological advances that have been made since the regulations came into force and remove less efficient lighting products from the European market. This is expected to lead to significant energy savings across the EU, driving innovation in/from manufacturers, and bringing cost savings to end-users.

The revision of the implementing regulations for lighting products is expected to be one of the major sources of energy savings in the European Commission’s Eco-design Working Plan 2016-2019, with the combined effect of Ecodesign and Energy Labelling regulations leading to anticipated savings of 125TWh per year by 2030.

Miltcon Services Ltd. is involved in market surveillance activities associated with the current Ecodesign and Energy Labelling regulations and the proposed changes outlined in the SLR can be expected to benefit both market surveillance authorities and manufacturers alike.

More information in relation to the energy labelling and ecodesign requirement for lighting products can be found here:  https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/energy-efficiency/energy-efficient-products/lighting