On 1 September 2021, the criteria set out in the EURegulation 2019/2020 on Ecodesign for the lighting sector, approved on 17 December 2018. The Regulation governs the lighting sector in terms of eco-design and has had the merit of integrating in a single text, the so-called Single Lighting Regulation, all the elements of Ecodesign legislation for products in the lighting sector, which until then were covered by different regulations and amendments to them.
The aim of the European legislator was to simplify the regulations in order to make them more enforceable and to enable the national enforcement authorities to monitor their application more effectively. The basic objective of the Regulation was also to ensure that European products are durable and innovative and that it is always possible to repair and replace the light source. In particular, on the "removability" requirement, the Regulation states that light sources (and ballast units) must be accessible and available for market testing, they must be "demountable" to ensure the reparability of the luminaire in case of failure of these elements, and they must be "replaceable" to allow the possible upgrade/upgrade of the luminaire, where more efficient or better components are available in the near future.
Mission accomplished? According to some comments reported by Assil itself, the new regulation "still presents some elements of uncertainty", in particular regarding the definitions of "light source" and "containing products" which, being rather approximate, would lead to doubts about interpretation. In any case, since last September all products on the market must comply with the new requirements, including a new Energy Label, and be registered on a dedicated EU portal with all the required technical details, accessible through a unique QR Code printed on the product packaging. As far as labelling is concerned, the main novelties are the return to a classification between the letters "G" and "A" (from least to most efficient), and the new provisions on dimensions and "Lay-out" graphics for the two types of packaging: normal (min. 36×72 mm) and small (min. 20×54 mm). This second aspect also has an impact on the minimum size of the packaging, with effects on the efficiency of the materials used for packaging light sources. The QR Code, on the other hand, will allow users and control authorities to access the light source information registered by the "Supplier" (manufacturer or importer, as the case may be) on the EPREL (European Product Registry for Energy Labelling) database via the publicly accessible website.
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