Electrical appliances

Energy labelling

The purpose of energy labelling is to help consumers compare the energy consumption of appliances and to encourage businesses to develop their products to be more energy efficient. Energy labelling is mandatory for the product groups for which an energy labelling regulation has been issued. The regulations for each product group also include details on what the group’s energy labelling should be like.

The most important thing in terms of the legislation is that the consumer sees the energy label before making a purchase decision, whether that decision is made in a store, online store or based on an advertisement. The energy label, or at least information on the energy class, should be as clear as the product price.

All energy-labelled products must be recorded in the EPREL product database for energy labelling. The obligation concerns the supplier, i.e. the manufacturer or the importer. Once the product information has been entered into the EPREL product database, you can print an energy label for the product from the database. 

Some product groups were renewed in 2021, and the reform will be extended to all product groups later. In the reform:

• Abolition of the A+, A++ and A+++ categories that confused consumers
• The limit values for the remaining categories A–G were rescaled so that category A was left empty in most product groups, leaving room for innovation and more energy-efficient products
• The pictograms for markings were edited to be more comprehensible 
• A QR code was added to the label that leads to public information in the EPREL product database

Product fiche

In addition to requiring that products bear an energy label, most energy labelling regulations also require a product fiche. The content requirements of the product fiche vary between the regulations, but in addition to product information, the description must usually also include the dimensions of the product, the energy efficiency index, the energy efficiency class, the standby power consumption and the sound level class. The information in the product description must be entered into the EPREL product database for energy labelling.

EPREL product database

The EPREL product database for energy labelling is mandatory for all products subject to the energy labelling obligation. In other words, if an energy labelling requirement applies to the product, its information must also be entered into EPREL. There are three sides to the system: corporate; consumer; and authoritative. On the consumer side, only a small part of the information entered by the business is visible, while the side for the authorities shows more of it.

The system is created and maintained by the EU, and its use requires personal EU credentials. You can create credentials  here.

The EPREL wiki provides instructions on how to use the system, such as how to register a business, and how to enter products into the system. You can find the wiki here.

The actual EPREL system is here.

And if after all the instructions, something doesn’t work the way it should, the helpdesk can help you best.

Energy labelling in a store

For light sources, the energy label must be on the product packaging at the point of sale, but for other product groups, the label must be on the surface of the showpiece unit in the store – for example on the door of a refrigerator. It is not enough to include the energy label in a bag inside the showpiece unit. In addition to the visible energy label, the store must ensure that they can give the customer the product description on paper on request.

You can find images of badly displayed labels here.

Energy labelling in an online store

Regardless of the shopping channel, the energy label must be visible to the consumer before they make the purchase decision. The energy label and product fiche must therefore also be clearly visible near the price in online stores. Whenever a product can be moved to a shopping basket in an online store, the energy label must be displayed in connection with the price. This should be taken into account if the customer can already place the product in the shopping basket on the product listing page.

The energy label can be displayed either in its entirety or in a layered display mode. You can find more information on what this means in practice here.

Energy labelling in advertisements

Visual advertising, technical promotional material and remote sales must indicate the energy efficiency class of the products and the used scale of energy efficiency classes and the information provided in connection with remote sales and telemarketing. The customer must also be able to obtain a printed copy of the energy label and the product description on request.

Remote sales based on telemarketing especially should inform the customer of the product’s energy efficiency class and the scale of energy efficiency classes used on the label, and the consumer must be able to obtain the label’s details and the product description from an online product database or a printed copy on request.

Read more about energy labelling:

General information on energy labelling on the ekosuunnittulu.info website (in Finnish)

Information on energy labelling in an online store on the ekosuunnittelu.info website (in Finnish)

Additional information on the product database for energy labelling (EPREL) (in Finnish)

Information on new energy labels (in Finnish)