BRUXELLES, Belgium – The EU Commission revealed in October its work programme for next year entitled, ‘Making Europe stronger together’: the EVA has scrutinised all the expected initiatives that could impact the industry, and can highlight the following three dossiers featured on the work plan for 2022.
EU Commission to present new F Gas Regulation in Spring 2022
While the key refrigerant ban impacting the vending industry only kicks in in January 2022 for HFC r134a, the current EU F Gas Regulation already dates back to 2014.
The legislative process of reviewing the law consequently started at the end of last year, including an evaluation study of the current Regulation which the EVA participated in. The Commission has now stated that it is likely to adopt a proposal to revise the F Gas Regulation in the spring of 2022.
The Commission proposal would follow the conclusions of the evaluation of the F Gas Regulation, and would aim to revise the Regulation to better contribute to the EU’s climate objectives, implement international commitments concerning F gases, simplify the Regulation and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Regulation.
EU Commission to launch review of PSD2
The EU Commission will carry out a review of the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) in order to decide whether an update of the legislation in required.
To inform the review, the Commission intends to launch a public consultation in the first months of next year to gather stakeholder views. The EVA will of course be providing input to make the views and needs of vending known.
Based on the outcome of the external study and stakeholder views, the Commission would then prepare its report by the end of 2022.
EU Commission to present initiative on ‘right to repair’
The Commission is expected to present an initiative on the right to repair. The initiative would most likely ensure that consumers have a ‘right to repair’ by making repairs more appealing, systematic and cost-efficient. This might be done either by extending guarantees, providing guarantees for replaced parts or better access to information on repair and maintenance.
While detailed information is not yet available, the EVA is highly interested to see proposals in any such initiative, and significantly whether it would also apply to the B2B market.
EVA Members can consult the latest versions of the EU Newsletter for full details on these and other topics.
