In a bid to reduce energy consumptions across the EU the European Commission brings into force "ecodesign" regulations forcing PC vendors to adhere to minimum energy efficiency requirements.
Vendors selling PCs in the EU must also provide customers with energy-consumption information, including annual power usage and power demand in modes such as "sleep" and "off".
The regulation (specifically Commission Regulation no. 617.2013 implementing directive 2009/125/EC) was announced on June 2013, and comes in full force on 1 July 2014 before gradually becoming stricter by 2016 following review by end 2017.
It covers desktops, thin clients, workstations, mobile workstations, small-scale servers and servers in the EU, but not games consoles, docking stations, multi-node server and blade systems and components.
The regulation should not have "significant negative impact" on customers or the industry, and will "not impose on manufacturers proprietary technology or excessive administrative burden."
“The ecodesign requirements should be introduced gradually in order to provide a sufficient time frame for manufacturers to redesign products that are subject to this regulation,” the EC says. “The timing should be such that negative impacts on the supply of computers are avoided, and costs for manufacturers, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises, are taken into account, while ensuring timely achievement of the objectives of this regulation.”
