Experience in implementing Commission Regulations on ecodesign requirements adopted on the basis of Directive 2009/125/EC has revealed that the verification tolerances laid down in the implementing measures, and intended for use only by market surveillance authorities, have been used by some manufacturers and importers to establish the values required to be provided in the technical documentation or to interpret those values with a view to achieving compliance or to communicate better performance of their products.

The verification tolerances are designed to allow for variations that emerge in the measurements taken during verification tests, which are due to the differences in the measurement equipment used by manufacturers, importers and surveillance authorities across the Union. Verification tolerances should not be used by the manufacturer or importer for establishing the values in the technical documentation or for interpreting those values in order to achieve compliance with ecodesign rules or to communicate better performance than has actually been measured and calculated. The parameters declared or published by the manufacturer or importer should not be more favourable for the manufacturer or importer than the values contained in the technical documentation.

To ensure fair competition, to realise the energy savings that the Regulations were designed to achieve and to provide consumers with accurate information about the environmental and functional performance of products, it should be clarified that the verification tolerances set out in the implementing measures may only be used by the Member State authorities, for the purpose of verifying compliance.

Commission Regulations (EC) No 1275/20082, (EC) No 107/20093, (EC) No 278/20094, (EC) No 640/20095, (EC) No 641/20096, (EC) No 642/20097, (EC) No 643/20098, (EU) No 1015/20109, (EU) No 1016/201010, (EU) No 327/201111, (EU) No 206/201212, (EU) No 547/201213, (EU) No 932/201214, (EU) No 617/201315, (EU) No 666/201316, (EU) No 813/201317, (EU) No 814/201318, (EU) No 66/201419, (EU) No 548/201420, (EU) No 1253/201421, (EU) 2015/109522, (EU) 2015/118523, (EU) 2015/118824, (EU) 2015/118925 and (EU) 2016/228126 should therefore be amended accordingly.

Data provided by lighting industry actors shows that many lamp types intended as alternatives to the least efficient banned types (such as the mains-voltage halogen bulbs intended to replace incandescent bulbs) would be entirely removed from the market by Regulations (EC) No 244/200927, (EC) No 245/200928 and (EU) No 1194/201229 if manufacturers were prohibited from using the approach for data and information declaration described in the measurement standards supporting the verification tolerances set out in these Regulations in the way that is current practice throughout the industry. It is therefore appropriate not to amend those three Regulations through this Regulation, but to clarify the intended use of the tolerances in conjunction with a reassessment of the related minimum requirements when those Regulations are next reviewed.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the committee established by Article 19(1) of Directive 2009/125/EC,