POSITION PAPERS

We are pleased to share our joint position paper, developed with EPTA, on the European Commission’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) proposal, which aims to provide our comments on various aspects of high relevance to us.

This paper follows our participation in the Sustainable Products Initiative consultations, our previous joint position paper, and latest response to the Commission’s ESPR consultation.

We express strong support for:

• The proposal’s push to improve the resource efficiency of the European economy, while levelling the playing field by harmonising European rules.
• The intended product-by-product approach to tackle the various product categories that will be regulated.
• The Commission’s intention to integrate the input and specialised knowledge of external stakeholders into the EPSR and setting out an ESPR standardisation roadmap.

However, we would also like to draw attention to several aspects that we believe need clarification or are highly concerning for us, including:

• The granularity, type, and accessibility of information in the Digital Product Passport.
• The clarity, relevance and necessity to tailor specific performance and information requirements to given product groups.
• The need to include concepts such as intended use, specified conditions of use, and maintenance.
• The vital importance of not regulating chemicals under the ESPR, rather through existing legislation on substances such as the REACH Regulation or the RoHS Directive.

Download the full paper here.

On 23 May, EGMF issued a position paper on the ‘Empowering the consumer for the green transition’ initiative’s legislative proposal, adopted by the European Commission on 30 March 2022. It amends the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/EC and the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU.

The position paper provides additional feedback to the European Commission, which will be combined with the input they receive from other stakeholders, summarised, and presented to the European Parliament and Council with the aim of feeding into the legislative debate.

They key points that we raise include:

• The issue should be tackled through a unified approach at the European level: all measures must be based on EU standards and law, rather than individual and fragmented Member States’ initiatives and interpretations, with the French Repairability Index being a prime example of such.
• We also call for full harmonisation of the use of standards and EU legislation application, and caution against multiplying and overlapping with other measures, such as the Commission’s proposed revised Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), the upcoming legislative proposal on Substantiating Green Claims using the PEF/OEF methods, and any other labelling requirements.
• Lastly, we call for the educational measures, like environmental literacy and awareness-raising campaigns, to complement labels in terms of influencing consumer behaviour.

For more details and examples, read our position paper here.

On 16 July, EGMF and EPTA issued a joint position paper on the Sustainable Products Initiative. This future legislative framework – currently developed by the European Commission – is expected by the end of the year.  

This joint position paper aims to share the view of the outdoor power equipment and power tools industries on the different measures to make sustainable product the norm. In addition to our responses to the public consultation questionnaire in June, this paper provides inputs for the ongoing Impact Assessment study that is evaluating cost, benefits and impacts of different measures under discussion.

EGMF and EPTA support the Commission’s approach to set sustainability requirements on a European level and a product-by-product basis. However, it is important that the Initiative is built on the existing legal framework, and the extension of the Ecodesign Directive does not produce a parallel legislation.

Furthermore, we argue that materials and substances should be regulated only through existing policies, and all labelling information should be easy to understand and be of added value. Lastly, the Digital Product Passport needs a clear definition, alignment with standardisation and current legislation, and have a measured scope that considers our industries’ complex global value chains.

More information can be found in the EGMF position paper.

The Machinery Directive is undoubtedly a core internal market legislation for manufacturers of garden machinery and outdoor power equipment. This piece of legislation has provided EGMF’s industry with the necessarily stability in the EU legal framework for more than a decade. The entire portfolio of EGMF equipment falls in the scope of the Machinery Directive.

With the Commission proposal for a future Machinery Regulation being tabled, EGMF shared with the key EU policymakers its views on the main provisions of this proposal which have an impact on the garden machinery and outdoor power equipment sector.

EGMF welcomes the goal of ensuring a more coherent and harmonised legal framework for machinery products via the alignment with the New Legislation and the conversion into a Regulation. On the other hand, our industry has strong concerns about new measures to address challenges from emerging technologies or adapt existing requirements. This is particularly valid for the proposed conformity assessment procedure for high-risk machines which will be required to undergo third-party certification. EGMF is not aware of any evidence indicating that products that are self-certified pose any greater risk than those certified by third parties. Since the market for garden and outdoor power equipment is seasonal, any delays in product launches (which could be caused by the obligation of third-party certification for machines listed in Annex I, or inadequate transitional provisions) could have critical implications.

EGMF calls on EU decision-makers to shape a balanced legislation providing an appropriate framework to address emerging technologies and guarantee a high degree of safety for all machinery used by European citizens, while enhancing innovation– an essential element for the EU competitiveness and sustainable growth agenda.

In the light of this objective, EGMF asks decision makers to:

• Support provisions on digital documentation to achieve a green, modern and future-proof regulation
• Extend the transition period to 54 months and eliminate the retrospective application in Article 50
• Ensure consistency with future regulation on Artificial Intelligence, particularly in terms of definition of Artificial Intelligence systems
• Reinstate the option of self-assessment for machines in Annex I – as currently allowed under the Machinery Directive – rather than impose third-party certification only
• Clarify the scope of a ‘safety function’
• Clarify and improve new provisions related to human-machine interface, autonomous mobile machinery, cybersecurity

More information can be found in the EGMF position paper .