Commission Regulation (EU) No 206/2012 of 6 March 2012 implementing Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to ecodesign requirements for air conditioners and comfort fans Text with EEA relevance

1 This Regulation establishes eco-design requirements for the placing on the market of electric mains-operated air conditioners with a rated capacity of ≤ 12 kW for cooling, or heating if the product has no cooling function, and comfort fans with an electric fan power input ≤ 125W.

2 This Regulation shall not apply to: (a) appliances that use non-electric energy sources; (b) air conditioners of which the condenser-side or evaporator-side, or both, do not use air for heat transfer medium.

For the purposes of this Regulation, the definitions in Article 2 of Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council shall apply. In addition, the following definitions shall apply: 1. ‘air conditioner’ means a device capable of cooling or heating, or both, indoor air, using a vapour compression cycle driven by an electric compressor, including air conditioners that provide additional functionalities such as dehumidification, air-purification, ventilation or supplemental air-heating by means of electric resistance heating, as well as appliances that may use water (either condensate water that is formed on the evaporator side or externally added water) for evaporation on the condenser, provided that the device is also able to function without the use of additional water, using air only; 2. ‘double duct air conditioner’ means an air conditioner in which, during cooling or heating, the condenser (or evaporator) intake air is introduced from the outdoor environment to the unit by a duct and rejected to the outdoor environment by a second duct, and which is placed wholly inside the space to be conditioned, near a wall; 3. ‘single duct air conditioner’ means an air conditioner in which, during cooling or heating, the condenser (or evaporator) intake air is introduced from the space containing the unit and discharged outside this space; 4. ‘rated capacity’ (Prated) means the cooling or heating capacity of the vapour compression cycle of the unit at standard rating conditions; 5. ‘comfort fan’ means an appliance primarily designed for creating air movement around or on part of a human body for personal cooling comfort, including comfort fans that can perform additional functionalities such as lighting; 6. ‘fan power input’ (PF) means the electric power input of a comfort fan in Watt operating at the declared maximum fan flow rate, measured with the oscillating mechanism active (if/when applicable). For the purposes of the Annexes, additional definitions are set out in Annex I.

1 The ecodesign requirements for air conditioners and comfort fans are set out in Annex I.

2 Each ecodesign requirement shall apply in accordance with the following timetable: From 1 January 2013: single duct and double duct air conditioners shall correspond to requirements as indicated in Annex I, point 2(a). From 1 January 2013: (a) air conditioners, except single and double duct air conditioners, shall correspond to requirements as indicated in Annex I, point 2(b) and points 3(a), 3(b), 3(c); (b) single ducts and double ducts shall correspond to requirements as indicated in Annex I, points 3(a), 3(b), 3(d); (c) comfort fans shall correspond to requirements as indicated in Annex I, points 3(a), 3(b), 3(e). From 1 January 2014: (a) air conditioners shall correspond to ecodesign requirements as indicated in Annex I, point 2(c); (b) single duct and double duct air conditioners shall correspond to requirements as indicated in Annex I, point 2(d).

3 Compliance with ecodesign requirements shall be measured and calculated in accordance with requirements set out in Annex II.

1 The conformity assessment procedure referred to in Article 8 of Directive 2009/125/EC shall be the internal design control set out in Annex IV to that Directive or the management system set out in Annex V to that Directive.

2 For the purposes of conformity assessment pursuant to Article 8 of Directive 2009/125/EC, the technical documentation file shall contain the results of the calculation set out in Annex II to this Regulation.

Member States shall apply the verification procedure described in Annex III to this Regulation when performing the market surveillance checks referred to in Article 3(2) of Directive 2009/125/EC for compliance with requirements set out in Annex I to this Regulation.

The indicative benchmarks for best-performing air conditioners available on the market at the time of entry into force of this Regulation are set out in Annex IV.

The Commission shall review this Regulation in the light of technological progress and present the result of this review to the Ecodesign Consultation Forum no later than 5 years from the date of the entry into force of this Regulation. The review shall in particular assess the efficiency and sound power level requirements, the approach to promote the use of low- global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants and the scope of the Regulation for air conditioners and possible changes in market share of types of appliances, including air conditioners above 12 kW rated output power. The review shall also assess the appropriateness of the standby and off mode requirements, seasonal calculation and measurement method, including considerations on the development of a possible seasonal calculation and measurement method for all air conditioners in the scope for cooling and heating seasons.

1 This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

2 It shall apply from 1 January 2013.