THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 100a thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission
,
In cooperation with the European Parliament
,
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee
,
Whereas Decision 91/565/EEC
provides for the promotion of energy efficiency in the Community under the SAVE programme;
Whereas it is important to promote measures aimed at the progressive establishement of the internal market in the period up to
31 December 1992
; whereas the internal market encompasses an area without internal frontiers, in which the free circulation of goods, persons, services and capital is assured;
Whereas the Council resolution of
15 January 1985
on the improvement of energy-saving programmes in the Member States
invites Member States to pursue and where necessary increase their efforts to promote the more rational use of energy by the further development of integrated energy-saving policies;
Whereas the Council resolution of
16 September 1986
concerns new Community energy-policy objectives for 1995 and convergence of the policies of the Member States
, and in particular the objective of improving the efficiency of final energy demand by at least 20 %;
Whereas Article 130r of the Treaty provides that action by the Community relating to the environment shall have the objective of ensuring a prudent and rational utilization of natural resources;
Whereas it is appropriate to take as a base a high level of protection in proposals for the approximation of the provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States and concerning health, safety, environmental protection and consumer protection;
Whereas the Council resolution of
21 June 1989
declares ‘that the Community should take proper account of potential climatic change linked to the greenhouse effect’ and the Council's conclusions of
29 October 1990
state that CO
2
emissions in the year 2000 should be stabilized throughout the Community at their 1990 level;
Whereas the importance of the domestic and tertiary sector, which absorbs a major proportion of the final consumption of energy in the Community, is considerable;
Whereas this sector will become even more important through trends towards more central heating and a general increase in thermal comfort;
Whereas better boiler efficiency is in the consumer's interest; whereas energy saving will be reflected in fewer imports of hydrocarbons; whereas reduction in the Community's energy dependence will have a positive impact on its trade balance;
Whereas Council Directive 78/170/EEC of
13 February 1978
on the performance of heat generators for space heating and the production of hot water in new or existing non-industrial buildings and on the insulation of heat and domestic hot-water distribution in new non-industrial builings
, has given rise to the establishment of substantially different efficiency levels between one Member State and another;
Whereas the requirement of high efficiency for hot-water boilers will reduce the range of technical properties of equipment placed on the market, thus facilitating series production and making for economies of scale; whereas the absence of a measure laying down energy requirements at a sufficiently high level may result, with the completion of the internal market, in a significant drop in the efficiency levels of heating installations through the spread on the market of low-efficiency boilers;
Whereas local climatic conditions and the energy and occupancy characteristics of buildings differ greatly within the Community; whereas Member States must take this diversity into account when determining the conditions for putting boilers into service in implementation of this Direcitve; whereas these circumstances justify the fact that Member States where back-boilers and boilers designed to be installed in the living space are widely installed at the date of the adoption of this Directive should continue to authorize, within specific limits, the placing on their markets and the putting into service of such boilers; whereas these arrangements should be subject to particular surveillance by the Commission;
Whereas this Directive, which is aimed at eliminating technical barriers with regard to boiler efficiency, must follow the new approach established by the Council resolution of
7 May 1985
which specifically lays down that legislative harmonization is limited to the adoption, by means of directives based on Article 100 of the EEC Treaty, of the essential requirements with which products put on the market must conform and that ‘these essential requirements shall be worded precisely enough in order to create legally binding obligations which can be enforced and to enable the certification bodies to certify products as being in conformity, having regard to those requirements in the absence of standards’;
Having regard to Directive 83/189/EEC
laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations;
Having regard to Decision 90/683/EEC
concerning the modules for the various phases of the conformity assessment procedures which are intended to be used in the technical harmonization directives;
Whereas boilers complying with the efficiency requirements should bear the CE mark and, where appropriate, signs in order to enable them to move freely and to be put into service in accordance with their intended purpose within the Community;
Having regard to Directive 89/106/EEC
on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to construction products;
Whereas efficiency requirements to encourage the rational use of energy as laid down in Council Directive 90/396/EEC of
29 June 1990
on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to appliances burning gaseous fuels
should be established for the gas boilers referred to in this Directive,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: