A new, tougher, A to G scale showing the energy efficiency of household appliances should be introduced to keep pace with technological progress, the European Parliament's and Council’s negotiators agreed.

The customers should be able to see the first new labels with the new scale without the “+” (“A+/A++/etc.”) indications in shops at the earliest at the end of 2019. To keep pace with energy efficiency improvements, any future rescaling should be triggered when 30% of products sold on the EU market fall into the top energy efficiency class A, or when 50% of these products fall into the top two energy efficiency classes A and B.

Parliament as a whole and the Council need to adopt the agreement formally before the legislation enters into force.

Read the press release.