European Eco-Design Requirements Postponed for Data Storage Equipment

                                                                                                                                                                                       

The new European eco-design requirements for servers and data storage products according to EU Regulation 2019/424 (Annex II.1.1.2) were planned implemented from 1 January 2023. It would then entail higher efficiency requirement for power supply units (PSUs) in server/data storage equipment.

However, the European Commission (EC) is well aware of the situation for such PSUs and the challenges for manufacturers to source power supply units which meet the requirements of this Regulation, primarily due to the global supply crisis for semiconductor chips. Therefore, EC did on 9 December publish an official Notice (No. 2022/C 469/03,) which postpones the mandatory compliance by one year until 1 January 2024, and for this purpose make use of the grace period each Member State has for implementing such legislation at the national level.

In the official Notice, the process for use of the grace period is described as follows:
“If national market-surveillance authorities – in line with these conditions – do not enforce the eco-design requirements on the energy efficiency of the PSUs of servers and data-storage products and on the energy efficiency of the power sources of welding equipment as of 1 January 2023, the Commission will refrain from launching infringement procedures as long as that lack of enforcement does not go beyond what is required and is limited in time from 1 January 2023 until 1 January 2024.
This approach should apply to all individual units of a product model placed on the market within the indicated time period. This also means that, if market-surveillance authorities encounter a non-compliant product unit after 1 January 2024, but which was placed on the market before that date, the same considerations apply”.

The full official Notice is available at this site.
For further information, please contact kenny.ho@nemko.com

(Article is based on the text provided by Kenny Ho, edited by T.Sollie)