GOVERNMENT FAILURE ON ENERGY PERFORMANCE DIRECTIVE COULD LEAVE RETAILERS IN BREECH OF EU LAW

17 January 2006

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has today urged Government to publish the requirement details that will allow retailers and other businesses to comply with the new Energy Performance Buildings Directive, which came into force across all European Member States on 4 January 2006.

The aim of the Directive is to improve the energy efficiency of buildings as part of a Europe wide drive to cut Co2 emissions. However, the Government’s failure to provide guidance on how the Directive will be implemented and how to comply, may leave retailers and other businesses in breech of EU legislation.

BRC Director General, Kevin Hawkins, said:

"Retailers are dedicated to improving the energy efficiency of their premises and naturally want to ensure they are meeting legal requirements, but they cannot comply if they do not have the relevant information.

“The Government needs to formally publish full details of the new requirements as a matter of urgency, so that retailers and other businesses know what they need to observe to comply with the Directive.

“We have also heard that the European Commission is considering applying the Directive, possibly as early as next year, to smaller businesses. This will prove very difficult for small retailers and the cost of compliance is likely to be high. Also, through no fault of their own, many Member States are already struggling to transpose the original Directive into legislation - now is not the time to widen the scope of the Directive.”