Directive 2009/125/EC requires the Commission to set ecodesign requirements for energy-related products that represent significant volumes of sales and trade, that have a significant environmental impact and that present significant potential for improvement in terms of their environmental impact without entailing excessive costs.

Article 16(2) of Directive 2009/125/EC provides that in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 19(3) and the criteria set out in Article 15(2), and after consulting the Consultation Forum, the Commission should, if appropriate, introduce implementing measures for products offering a high potential for cost-effective reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, such as heating equipment, including solid fuel boilers and packages of a solid fuel boiler, supplementary heaters, temperature controls and solar devices.

The Commission has carried out a preparatory study to analyse the technical, environmental and economic aspects of the solid fuel boilers typically used in households and for commercial purposes. The study has been carried out with stakeholders and interested parties from the Union and third countries, and the results have been made publicly available.

The environmental aspects of solid fuel boilers that have been identified as significant for the purposes of this Regulation are energy consumption in the use phase and emissions of particulate matter (dust), organic gaseous compounds, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides in the use phase. The annual energy consumption related to solid fuel boilers is expected to be 530 petajoules (‘PJ’) (approximately 12,7 million tonnes of oil equivalent ‘Mtoe’) in 2030 and annual emissions are expected to be 25 kilotonnes (‘kt’) of particulate matter, 25 kt of organic gaseous compounds and 292 kt of carbon monoxide in 2030. Emissions of nitrogen oxides are expected to increase because of potential new solid fuel boiler designs aiming at higher energy efficiency and lower organic emissions. The preparatory study shows that use-phase energy consumption and emissions by solid fuel boilers can be significantly reduced.

The preparatory study shows that further requirements regarding ecodesign parameters for products referred to in Part 1 of Annex I to Directive 2009/125/EC are not necessary in the case of solid fuel boilers. In particular, emissions of dioxins and furans are not identified as significant.

Boilers generating heat exclusively for providing hot drinking or sanitary water, boilers for heating and distributing gaseous heat transfer media and cogeneration boilers with an electrical capacity of 50 kW or more have specific technical characteristics and should therefore be exempted from this Regulation. Non-woody biomass boilers are exempted, because at present there is insufficient European-wide information to determine appropriate levels for the ecodesign requirements for them and they may have further significant environmental impacts, such as furan and dioxin emissions. The appropriateness of setting ecodesign requirements for non-woody boilers will be reassessed when reviewing this Regulation.

The energy consumption and emissions of solid fuel boilers could be reduced by applying existing non-proprietary technologies without an increase in the combined costs of purchasing and operating these products.

Ecodesign requirements should harmonise energy consumption and emission requirements for solid fuel boilers throughout the Union, for the internal market to operate better and in order to improve the environmental performance of those products.

The ecodesign requirements should not affect the functionality or affordability of solid fuel boilers from the end-user's perspective and should not negatively affect health, safety or the environment.

The introduction of ecodesign requirements should give manufacturers sufficient time to redesign their products subject to this Regulation. The timing should take into account the impact on manufacturers' costs, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises, while ensuring timely achievement of the objectives of this Regulation.

In order to facilitate compliance checks, manufacturers should provide the information contained in the technical documentation referred to in Annexes IV and V to Directive 2009/125/EC insofar as that information relates to the requirements laid down in this Regulation.

To further limit the environmental impact of solid fuel boilers, manufacturers should provide information on disassembly, recycling and disposal.

In addition to the legally binding requirements laid down in this Regulation, indicative benchmarks for best available technologies should be determined to ensure that information on the life-cycle environmental performance of solid fuel boilers is widely available and easily accessible.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established under Article 19(1) of Directive 2009/125/EC,