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EEPLIANT3 - Work Package 5 - Concerted training actions, including an exchange programme

Work Package Leader: Federal Public Services Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, Belgium
Work Package Coordinator: vores bureau, Denmark

 

Scope

Being an inspector within ecodesign and energy labelling is a big task. Many (>50) regulations apply covering many very different product types, some of which are very complex. Therefore, continuous training of inspectors is necessary.
As EU regulations apply equally in all Member States, exchange and cooperation between Market Surveillance Authorities (MSAs) are essential for the market actors to be treated on the same level playing field.

To provide tailor-made training to support the building of capacities within MSAs of ecodesign and energy labelling regulations, according to their needs.
A second objective is to create added-value by providing opportunities for Member State authorities to learn from each other, but also, share knowledge with countries outside the jurisdiction of the EU and with associated countries currently working towards becoming members of the EU. Past experience has proved that there is an added-value in creating new ways for Member States to participate in training modules.

Work Plan

  • Setting the focus of the action for providing training;
  • Creating an overview of existing tools and guidelines;
  • Elaborate and execute an exchange programme;
  • Develop further tools (guidelines, inspection template, etc.) to assist daily MSAs' tasks;
  • Sharing results of market surveillance with jurisdictions outside EU;
  • Support and exchange of experience with EU associated countries;
  • Develop a concept for online training and live streaming of one training module.

Achievements

EEPLIANT3 conducted a free-of-charge online webinar on 20 January 2022 from 9:00 – 13:00 CET on “How to Conduct Technical Documentation Inspections”. The aim was to train market surveillance officers on how to conduct technical documentation inspections in the area of energy labelling and eco-design for inspected products.

The material from the Webinar can be accessed here by logging in.

Participants

21 Market Surveillance Authorities and 3 other organisations from the following 19 countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey.

EEPLIANT3 - Work Package 4 - Establishment of centres of excellence for product testing

Work Package Leader: Fundación para el Fomento de la Innovación Industrial (FFII-LCOE), Spain
Work Package Coordinator: PROSAFE

 

Scope

Access to good test facilities can be very difficult for most Market Surveillance Authorities (MSAs) across Europe. Some are developing their own in-house testing facilities whilst others continue to seek affordable commercial expert test laboratories. This Work Package explores the possibilities for establishing ‘centres of excellence’ for market surveillance, particularly by MSAs themselves, to support testing and strengthening coordination between the market surveillance actors.

Objective

To identify ways for improving MSAs' access to independent and competent test facilities, and to create a directory of where these exist in the EU.

Work Plan

  • Setting the focus of the action;
  • Establishing what test facilities already exist amongst MSAs in the EEA for energy related testing and, on a lesser, scale what example equivalents exist in other EU policy domains;
  • Establishing the motivation behind establishing the existing facilities;
  • Future scoping existing MSA - operated test facilities;
  • Produce map of existing and planned test facilities operated by MSAs or equivalent authorities;
  • Establishing what commercial test facilities exist for Energy Labelling and or Eco-design testing in the EEA and policy recommendations for setting up a network of centres of excellence.

Participants

6 Market Surveillance Authorities and 4 other organisations from the following 9 countries: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.

EEPLIANT3 - Work Package 6 - Concerted actions on new and arising issues posing challenges to market surveillance and enforcement

Work Package Leader: National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Italy
Work Package Coordinator: vores bureau, Denmark

 

Scope

To investigate and possibly support the solution of known and emerging issues linked to current and new risks, standards or product legislation, and products or technologies detected on the market that hinder effective and enforceable market surveillance. Our aim is to specify how such challenges can be illuminated or tackled in order to remove roadblocks to market surveillance.

Objective

Market surveillance inspectors increasingly encounter challenges with verifying compliance of regulated products. Challenges range from very simple ones, like the way to select random specimen for verification testing purposes, to challenges related to very large products assembled in-situ where traditional laboratory test methods cannot be applied ― if the product models can even be located.
This Work Package is being designed to be able to take action through the setting up of dedicated task groups on the identified issues for market surveillance raised for the entire duration of the Concerted Action by members of the two relevant ADCO groups.

Work Plan

This work package id addressing some of the challenges faced by MSAs in conducting and enforcing market surveillance, to suggest specific ways to overcome them. Some of the possible known challenges are:

  • Obtaining a random specimen for verification testing in laboratory: Many industry products are not available from stock, and even only produced to order. If testing cannot be conducted on a randomly selected specimen, without involving the manufacturer/legal representative, then the independence and validity of the test result could become compromised. Aim is to identify which procedures/actions can be applied in such cases;
  • Large products/systems: open issues are to identify laboratories capable of testing such products, possibilities for MSAs to identify when the product is “placed on the market” and where to locate these products;
  • Batch compliance: Market surveillance at present is based on technical document inspection and laboratory testing of very few specimens of a specific product model(s), could be as low as one. But, how can we assure that the documentation evaluated or model specimens tested actually represents the model which specimens from mass production are often produced in different years?
  • Software updates: increasingly relevant as more and more product types are controlled by software that can be (regularly) updated. The product specific ecodesign regulations and the energy labelling framework legislation set new provisions in this respect: if updating of software causes detriment compared to what is indicated on the label or of any other declared parameter, end-users must be given the option of accepting or refusing the update without (major) effects on the product performance. Possibilities to inspect products to verify the conformity with these demands could be explored;
  • Verification testing of complex products: what measures can be used by MSAs if the suppliers do not supply the necessary information on settings, etc. Should a standardised testing approach (test conditions/standard settings) be defined in order to overcome this situation?
  • New regulations, new standards, with provisions or clauses being vague or ambiguous that enforcement is not possible, or allowing products to escape from a regulation completely by being out of the regulation scope;
  • Defeat devices and circumvention, understood as product design or features, or specific alteration of the configuration existing only to fulfil verification testing;
  • Use and meaning of the Declaration of Identity: declarations of identity are often used by manufacturers to connect the test report in the technical documentation used for the conformity assessment to a specific model, but how can MSAs take properly into consideration this declaration if uncertainty exists on who should prepare it and what it should include?

Participants

6 Market Surveillance Authorities and 5 other organisations from the following 9 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.

EEPLIANT3 - Work Package 2 – Development and implementation of IT tools 

Work Package Leader: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland
Work Package Coordinator: Austrian Energy Agency

 

Scope

The purpose of this work package is to develop and make available a suite of IT tools with the aim of transforming the efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of Market Surveillance Authorities across the EU.
Various tasks in the market surveillance process for eco-design and energy labelling may be effectively supported by strategic IT tools, thereby significantly increasing the efficiency of market surveillance as a whole. Increased efficiency and productivity is particularly necessary in light of the doubling of legal requirements over the last six years without an equivalent increase in funding for enforcement.
This work package is designed to exploit the potential of supportive IT solutions by:

Objective

The main objectives of the work package are summarised as follows:

  • Assessment of the need for, and benefits of developing supporting IT tools for the different stages and tasks in the market surveillance process;
  • Identification and evaluation of effective tools already used or in development in the different member states;
  • Detection of gaps where no tools are available yet;
  • Adaptation (of two existing tools) or development of new tools (3 simple and 1 complex tool), including field testing and deployment in the countries involved;
  • The creation of a suitable framework to support current and future take-up of the tools developed by other Market Surveillance Authorities not participating in the Work Package.

Furthermore, the Work Package covers issues of connecting tools with relevant databases for market surveillance including EPREL, ICSMS and tools from previous EEPLIANT projects and the MSTyr15 project.

Participants

12 Market Surveillance Authorities and 3 other organisations from the following 11 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden.

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