Spark is undertaking an important supporting role in the enforcement of EU energy rules, by carrying out a study entitled ‘’Assistance with the verification of compliance of national legislative measures implementing Directive (EU) 2018/2002 on energy efficiency and Directive (EU) 2018/844 on the energy performance of buildings’’, together with COWI and a network of national legal experts.
Directive (EU) 2018/2002 on energy efficiency (Amending EED), was adopted in 2018 as part of the ‘Clean energy for all Europeans package’ in order to update the policy framework to 2030 and beyond. The key element of the Directive is a headline energy efficiency target for 2030 of at least 32.5%. It additionally contains amendments to associated reporting obligations, provisions concerning efficiency in energy use, rules on efficiency in energy supply, a number of provisions that apply generally and some final provisions dealing with issues such as repeals. According to Directive 2018/2002/EU, EU Member States are obliged to set their own national contributions for 2020 and 2030.[1] Furthermore, from 2020 onwards, the EU Member States should require utility companies to help their consumers use 0.8% less energy each year (or, in the case of Malta and Cyprus, 0.24% less).[2]
Directive (EU) 2018/844 (Amending EPBD) introduced new elements with regard to the energy performance of buildings and sends a strong political signal on the EU’s commitment to modernise the buildings sector in light of technological improvements and increasing building renovations. The EPBD was adopted in 2010 in order to assist consumers in making informed choices with a view to saving both energy and money in buildings as they account for almost 40% of the total energy consumption in the EU.[3] The EPBD is one of the main legislative components in the EU energy efficiency policy. It was adopted to contribute to the Kyoto commitment, securing energy supply and competitiveness.[4] As a result, the trends in the energy performance of buildings also changed as a consequence of energy efficiency requirements introduced by the EPBD in national building codes; since 2010, buildings consume only half as much as typical buildings from the 1980s.[5]
The Study is a continuation of a previous ‘assistance with the verification of compliance of national legislative measures implementing Directive (EU) 2018/2002 on energy efficiency and Directive (EU) 2018/844 on the energy performance of buildings’, that Spark Legal Network has successfully completed for the European Commission (DG ENER) in January 2022. Due to low levels of transposition across Member States, a follow-up Study has been published by the European Commission that is due to continue until 2025.
The objective of the follow-up Study is to continue carrying out prima facie checks aimed at verifying if all provisions of these Directives have been transposed into Member States’ national legal orders as necessary. In addition, in-depth legal analyses of the conformity of national transposition and implementing measures with the respective provisions of these two Directives will be conducted. The national legal research for this study will be carried out by a network of national legal experts, together with Ubiqus Belgium for the verification of translations of national measures into English. The Commission will use the assessment completed by Spark as background information in support of its task to ensure, in accordance with Article 17 TFEU, that the Amending EED and EPBD are fully and correctly transposed in the Member States.
Spark is looking forward to making progress with the Study, towards obtaining further knowledge and key information on the transposition of this important pieces of legislation at national level.
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[1] Recital 6 Directive 2018/2002/EU; Article 1 and 3 EED as amended by the Directive 2018/2002/EU.
[2] Energy efficiency, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=LEGISSUM:4372644&from=EN , last accessed 22/09/2022.
[3] Recital 3, Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the energy performance of buildings, OJ L 153, 18.6.2010, p. 13–35.
[4] https://epbd-ca.eu/about-us, last accessed 22/09/2022.
[5] Energy performance of buildings Directive, https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/energy-efficiency/energy-efficient-buildings/energy-performance-buildings-directive_en, last accessed 22/09/2022.
