European Commission

Study

Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/1095 (ecodesign of professional refrigeration products) and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/1094 (energy labelling of professional refrigerated storage cabinets) set minimum energy efficiency and information requirements as well as energy labelling requirements for the placing of the market of the professional refrigeration products. These products are:

  • refrigerated storage cabinets, including full ecodesign and energy labelling requirements for vertical (fig. 1) and undercounter cabinets (fig. 3) as well as information requirements for blast cabinets;
  • remote condensing units (fig. 5);
  • medium and low temperature (MT & LT) process chillers (fig. 6).

Refrigerated professional storage cabinets excluded from the scope are – amongst others— roll in and roll-through cabinets (used with trolleys, fig. 2), saladettes (fig. 4), walk in cold rooms (WICR), etc. Blast cabinets (cabinets with quick chill/freeze capacity) are excluded from the scope of the energy labelling regulation, but some ecodesign requirements apply.

The review clauses of the Regulations mentioned above stipulate that the Commission shall review the two Regulations in the light of technological progress no later than five years after their entry into force. The review study is meant to inform the Commission and, if necessary, supply the necessary elements for a revision of the two Regulations. The relevant background documents for this study (preparatory studies, impact assessment, technical studies, guidelines, etc.) are available in the Documents section.

 

Phases and tasks of the study

Phase

Activity

1.1

Supporting the Commission with technical expertise for the assessment of the items listed in Article 7 of Regulation 2015/1095 (Ecodesign of professional refrigeration products) and article 7 of Regulation 2015/1094 (Energy Labelling of professional refrigerated storage cabinets), and of further items of interest to the Commission.
1.2 Updating the existing preparatory study of the two Regulations.
2 Providing input to the evaluation of both Regulations and the preparation of an impact assessment report by the Commission services if the Commission decides for a revision.

 

Phase 1.1

Phase 1.1 includes, taken from the review clauses of the regulations, assessments of the appropriateness of

  1. for professional refrigerated storage cabinets, introducing, in particular:
    1. ecodesign requirements for cabinets listed in Article 1(1);
    2. stricter requirements for heavy-duty cabinets;
    3. information requirement on a professional refrigerated storage cabinet's capacity to cool down foodstuffs;
    4. a method for determining the standard annual energy consumption for refrigerator-freezers;
    5. a revised method for the standard annual energy consumption of counter cabinets;
  2. for blast cabinets, introducing ecodesign requirements for these products;
  3. for walk-in cold rooms, introducing ecodesign requirements for these products;
  4. for condensing units and process chillers, setting ecodesign requirements
    1. covering direct greenhouse gas emissions related to refrigerants;
    2. for condensing units with a rated cooling capacity lower than 0,1 kW at low temperature and 0,2 kW at medium temperature and condensing units with a rated cooling capacity higher than 20 kW at low temperature and 50 kW at medium temperature;
    3. for condensing units sold with an evaporator, compressor packs and racks which do not include a condenser, and condensing units which do not use air as heat transfer medium for the condenser;
    4. for process chillers using evaporative condensing and process chillers using absorption technology.

       

    Additionally, Phase 1.1 includes
  5. for all products, a check if newer versions of quoted sources are available for Global Warming Potential (GWP) values;
  6. for all products, the value of the admitted tolerances in the verification procedure for the measured value of the energy consumption;
  7. for professional refrigerated storage cabinets (as per the review clause of the Energy Labelling Regulation):
    1. any significant changes in the market shares of various types of appliance;
    2. the verification tolerances set out in Annex X;
    3. the appropriateness of introducing a method for determining the standard annual energy consumption for refrigerator-freezers;
    4. the appropriateness of introducing a revised method for the standard annual energy consumption of counter cabinets.

       

    Further items to be analysed:
  8. for blast cabinets: clarification on blast cabinets with a remote condensing unit (are they in scope to the Ecodesign Regulation? Is there a measurement/testing method available for the energy performance of such products?);
  9. for chillers:
    1. analysis of the suitability of the inclusion in the Ecodesign Regulation of chillers working with CO2 trans critical systems;
    2. clarification on chillers with high viscous fluids as process cooling liquids (are they in scope to the Ecodesign Regulation? Is there a measurement/testing method available for the energy performance of such products?);
  10. for condensing units: possibility to introduce, in the Ecodesign Regulation, the testing and calculation approach for the determination of the evaporating temperature with refrigerant mixtures, as under EN 13215:2016+A1:2020;
  11. the suitability of the test standards EN 16855-1:2017 [1] and EN 16855-2:2018 [2] to the extent of potential Ecodesign requirements for walk-in cold rooms;
  12. the equivalence, or need of equivalence/correction factors, of the EN 16825 [3] and the EN ISO 22041+A1:2019 [4] standard, to the extent of assessing compliance with the Ecodesign requirements on the energy performance/consumption of professional refrigerated storage cabinets;
  13. the equivalence, or need of equivalence/correction factors, of the EN 17032:2018/A1:2019 [5] and the FprEN ISO 22042 [6] standard, to the extent of assessing compliance with the Ecodesign requirements on the energy performance/consumption of blast cabinets;
  14. which test standards [7] could be used to the extent of assessing the energy performance/consumption of professional refrigerated storage cabinets for laboratory use, inter alia those with very low operating temperature (i.e. less than -15°C);
  15. introduction, in the text of the two Regulations, of the clarifications contained in the ‘Commission guidelines: Ecodesign frequently asked questions (FAQ) on professional refrigerated storage cabinets and other equipment (April 2018)’;
  16. other clarification requests from stakeholders in the context of the stakeholder consultation process.

Finally, if needed, the contractor will update the existing ‘Ecodesign frequently asked questions (FAQ) on professional refrigerated storage cabinets and other equipment’.

 

Phase 1.2

Phase 1.2 can run partially in parallel to Phase 1.1 and prepares an update of the preparatory study following the Methodology for the Ecodesign for Energy-related Products (MEErP), consisting of 7 tasks:

  • Task 1 – Scope (definitions, standards and legislation);
  • Task 2 – Markets (volumes and prices);
  • Task 3 – Users (product demand side);
  • Task 4 – Technologies (product supply side, includes both BAT and BNAT);
  • Task 5 – Environment & Economics (Base case LCA & LCC);
  • Task 6 – Design options;
  • Task 7 – Scenarios (Policy, scenario, impact and sensitivity analysis).

Tasks 1 to 4 can be performed in parallel, whereas 5, 6 and 7 are sequential.

 

Phase 2

Should the Commission decide to revise the regulations, Phase 2 will deal with the (internal) procedures for the follow-up, in accordance with the latest Better Regulation Guidelines.

 

Meetings and timing

There will be a stakeholder meeting (online) at the very beginning of the project (month 2) for raising awareness and data gathering. A second plenary stakeholder meeting is planned after the first interim report of Phase 1 in October 2021. A Consultation Forum meeting is planned for March/April 2022.

 

Footnotes:

  1. ‘Walk-in cold rooms - Definition, thermal insulation performance and test methods - Part 1: Prefabricated cold room kits’
  2. Walk-in cold rooms - Definition, thermal insulation performance and test methods - Part 2: Customized cold rooms’
  3. ‘Refrigerated storage cabinets and counters for professional use - Classification, requirements and test conditions’. The standard EN 16825 is now officially replaced by ISO 22041. Disputed?
  4. Refrigerated storage cabinets and counters for professional use - Performance and energy consumption (ISO 22041:2019)’
  5. ‘Blast chillers and freezers cabinets for professional use - Classification, requirements and test conditions’
  6. ‘Blast chillers and freezers cabinets for professional use - Classification, requirements and test conditions (ISO/DIS 22042:2020)’
  7. Or variations of existing testing standards, such as EN 16825 or EN 22041
European Commission