Air conditioning & Refrigeration European Association

AREA

December 2006Newsletter

Items covered: - Climate Change – General information The Stern Report p.3 The UN Nairobi Conference p.4 - F-gas Regulation Latest news p.5 Letter to DG Environment p.6 EPEE summary on the Austrian situation p.7 - Education & vocational training News on The Refrigeration Craftsman (Leonardo) project p.8 Star Refrigeration e-learning-training initiative p.9 ASHRAE e-learning p.9 CO² heat pump course (part of EHPA project) p.10 - Technical matters News on The MINIREF project p.12 Opinions on leakage rates in VRF systems p.12 - Standardisation TC 182 WG 4 (rev. of EN 13313) – list of participants p.14 - European legislation Working time Directive p.16 Action plan on Energy Efficiency p.17 Services Directive p.18 - News from our Members p.20 ANEFRYC, KELF, ÖKKV, S CHKT - Sister associations p.21 Orgalime, EHPA, EPEE - Events p.23

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President : J. JACQUIN - SNEFCCA F - e-mail : contact@snefcca.com Past President : N. MITCHELL - RACG/HVCA UK - e-mail : ncm@normanmitchell.co.uk Vice-President : Ch. SCHOLZ - VDKF D – e-mail : info@vdkf.org Treasurer : J. HOOGKAMER - NVKL NL - e-mail : joh@fme.nl Director : A. ZOLTAN - HKVSZ HU - e-mail : zoltan.attila@hkvsz.hu General Secretary : R. BERCKMANS - AREA - e-mail : robert.berckmans@area-eur.be

Beau Site Première avenue, 88 • B -1330 Rixensart • Belgium Tel : +32 2 6538835 • Fax + 32 2 6523872 (till 1/1/2007)

From 1/1/2007, the registered office of AREA aisbl will be : c/o Mr. Hubert Heyvaert (accountant), Rue d’Hennuyères 54, B - 1421 Braine-l’Alleud (Ophain)

The President, Directors and Secretaries of AREA wish

to all our Members, their Families,

Friends and Colleagues,

a Merry Christmas and

a Peaceful, Healthy, Happy & Successful 2007!

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mailto:info@vdkf.orgmailto:joh@fme.nl

Picture taken by Mr. Marco Buoni at the AREA GA of November 18, 2006

*** Environment Climate Change – general information In a special cabinet meeting on Sunday 5 November, the German government has defined the priorities for its EU Presidency, starting on 1 January 2007. Among the top priorities : Energy and Climate Change!

*** Everything but no unanimity about the analysis of the situation! Article from Euractiv.com – 3 November 2006 Climate change: Is Stern Report 'alarmist and incompetent'? Background: Following in the footsteps of Al Gore's campaign film "An Inconvenient Truth", the UK government's publication of the long-waited report by former World Bank economist Nick Stern has woken up Europe's political leaders. Prime Minister Tony Blair called the Stern review "the most important report on the future" and his Finance Minister Gordon Brown followed suit. The French government also lends its support to the Stern study, saying that a similar "Factor Four" report in France had come to the same conclusions.

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http://www.industrie.gouv.fr/energie/prospect/pdf/facteur4-rapport-final-engl.pdf

Issues: Not everyone, though, applauded the document. The report immediately came under attack from climate sceptics who questioned the science and the cost calculations as well as from climate "believers" who stated that Sir Nicholas Stern's analysis is underestimating the costs of fighting climate change. The UK government report's key message is that tackling climate change will cost 20 times less than doing nothing and therefore underpins political initiatives such as emission trading or energy-efficiency actions. But studies on the costs of climate change have to include a lot of economic-value assumptions and are therefore difficult. Moreover, the media frenzy surrounding the report could also face criticism of being politically motivated, as the current Labour government is coming under increasing "greenness pressure" from the new Tory leader, David Cameron. Positions: The US government which withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change in 2001, downplayed the importance of the Stern Report saying that it was one of many others on the costs of climate-change mitigation. Spokespeople of the Bush administration refered to their government's huge investments in new technologies to tackle climate change. OPEC, the organisation of petroleum exporting countries, called the Stern report "misguided". OPEC's Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo said: "The mitigation and adaptation to climate change can only be accomplished on the principles of common responsibility and respected capabilities and not by scenarios that have no foundations in either science or economics as we had yesterday from London". The Wall Street Journal called the Stern report a "politicised edifice" and compared it negatively to the Copenhagen Consensus of Danish economist Björn Lomborg, saying "there are far more urgent, and far less speculative, problems that we know how to solve with the right policies. That message may not get scary headlines, but it would improve the lives of more human beings around the world." The Copenhagen consensus is a project that aims to establish policy priorities for advancing global welfare. In the Guardian's blog "Comment is free", solar industry entrepreneur Jeremy Leggett criticised the Stern Report for not being "stern enough" and "playing down the scale of the problem". One of the most renowned experts on the economics of climate change, Richard Tol, produced a detailed, four-page critique of the Stern report, saying that it uses only the most pessimistic impact studies, starts from a too-low discount rate and has no real cost-benefit analysis. Tol therefore called the report "alarmist and incompetent". "This is not to say that climate change is not a problem, nor that greenhouse-gas emissions should not be reduced. There are sound arguments for emission reduction. However, unsound analyses like the Stern Report only provide fodder for those sceptical of climate change and climate policy," Tol concludes.

*** UN talks seek extended Kyoto "as soon as possible" Source: Reuters – November 15 NAIROBI - A U.N. climate change conference has reaffirmed a goal of agreeing an extension of the Kyoto Protocol on curbing global warming "as soon as possible" beyond 2012 but without setting a deadline.

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http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/Default.aspx?ID=675http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jeremy_leggett/2006/11/the_stern_review_pulls_its_pun.htmlhttp://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jeremy_leggett/2006/11/the_stern_review_pulls_its_pun.html

A committee of delegates from 165 nations said it would end its work "as early as possible and in time to ensure that there is no gap" between the end of Kyooto's first period lasting until 2012 and new limits for industrialised nations from 2013. The decision at the Nov. 6-17 talks, circulated on Wednesday after it was adopted by officials late on Tuesday, has to be approved by ministers attending the final three days of the Nov. 6-17 conference in Nairobi. The wording matched a decision taken a year ago in Montreal. Many environmentalists, who want a deal by the end of 2008, had urged tougher language. The group leading talks on an extension of Kyoto said it "underscores the need for the energetic and timely pursuit of its work programme." "This will also give a clear signal to economic actors about the continuity of the international carbon market," it said. Kyoto binds 35 nations to cut emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and vehicles, to 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12. The draft decision said that work in 2007 would focus on analysis of how countries can reach emissions reduction targets, including emissions trading. The work would also involve "analysis of the mitigation potential, effectiveness, efficiency, costs and benefits of current and future policies, measures and technologies," it said. Kyoto is meant as a first step towards averting potentially disastrous climate change, such as more floods, heatwaves, drought and rising sea levels. Developing nations have also been urging rich states to accept new, tougher binding targets for cuts by the end of 2008. Many Kyoto countries say they want to set targets by 2009, to reassure investors in carbon markets. Some experts say that a deal may have to wait until 2010, to see if the United states will sign up after President George W. Bush steps down in 2009. Bush pulled out of Kyoto in 2001, saying it wrongly omitted poor nations and would cost U.S. jobs. Kyoto counties want developing nations, including China and India, to sign up for an extension of Kyoto. EC F-Gas Regulation In the scope of Article 5 on qualifications and certification, Mr. Peter Horrocks (DG ENV) and Mr. Nicolas Imbert (DG ENT) visited the STEK Bureau in the Netherlands. They were welcomed by MM. D. Theunissen, B. van den Hooghen, D. de Bruyckere, W. Schoneveld, J. Hoogkamer and J. Reijmers.

*** Key dates : DG Environment Stakeholders meeting on December 18, 2006

Special on inspection procedures and qualifications requirements (AREA will be represented by MM. J. Hoogkamer and J. Reijmers)

DG Environment Member States (TAC Technical Advisory Committee) meeting on January 10, 2007 EPEE Steering and Strategy Committees meeting on January 18, 2007

All sessions will be in Brussels.

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***

Letter sent to DG Environment (with copy to DG Enterprise and Industry)

European Commission Directorate General ENVIRONMENT Unit C.4 Mrs. Marianne Wenning Mrs. Laurence Graff Mr. Peter Horrocks BU-5 02/178

B-1049 Brussels

Brussels, 20 November, 2006

Dear Ladies, Dear Sir, Re : (EC) 842/2006 – Article 5 – ICF Consulting Report of September 2006

You know that our opinion, on the subject under reference, has been stated in the document (EU_AREA_EC842CERTIF) entitled EU minimum requirements on training and certification for personnel and companies involved in installation, maintenance, inspection and repair of refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump systems and equipment. It has been widely disseminated. The requirements and conditions specified in the F-gas Regulation will also help the Member States to fully comply with the ODS Regulation (EC) 2037/2000. It is useful to reiterate that many Member States have already good training and certification systems in place (we know it after consulting our 22 national association members). The AREA position has taken this fact into account as well as a thorough, precise and unbiased analysis of the tasks actually performed by the personnel and the companies concerned in Europe, through an extensive market research. With this letter, we just want to insist on a very important aspect, before the coming December 6 Commission – Member States meeting, that, we understand, may be postponed until early 2007. Indeed, and despite the effective ECCP launched in year 2000, we heard that some industrial organisations claim insufficient consultation, have an industrial branch or sector’s approach and ask for different treatments for refrigeration, air conditioning, heating, ventilation, electrical, plumbing or other specialist engineering contractors or technicians, when involved in activities covered by the F-gas Regulation. This is unacceptable and may lead to harmful misunderstandings. Again, the AREA position has already integrated the argument that different tasks require different qualifications and skills.

The European Commission has the objective to meet the environmental targets laid down in the Regulation and it is vital to ensure that only suitably qualified operatives and contractors are involved in the installation, servicing, containment and recovery of the concerned systems and substances.

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There should be no distinction between industrial branches or sectors. The only distinction should be between those qualified to work with the controlled substances and those who are not. Whilst not suggesting that existing voluntary schemes are inadequate, the time has come for the Regulation to be properly implemented. As mentioned earlier, the revision of the CEN standard EN 13313 will help the implementation of the Article 5 of the Regulation when supplying the necessary details. We also feel that (EC) 842/2006 could play a key role in the future because several of the issues covered and their solutions could serve as examples in other industrial situations (e.g. use of natural refrigerants) or legislative instruments (e.g. inspections of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive). Thanking you for considering our message, We remain, Yours truly, Robert H. Berckmans Jean Jacquin

Secretary General President

*** EPEE supplied a summary of the situation in Austria, based on the following documents issued in German : · The draft review legal text; · An “explanatory memorandum” outlining general and specific reasons for the review; · A cover letter from the Austrian Chamber of Commerce to its members explaining the context and summarizing briefly the content of the review.

General : In its reasoning, the Austrian Government explains that thanks to Article 9 paragraph 3 of the EU-F-Gas Regulation, Austria and Denmark are the only EU Members States that have the possibility to maintain their stricter national measures. However, this review is based on preliminary study and only contains simplifications and facilitations in the form of general and specific exemptions for the industry. Specific measures : · Article 1 paragraph 1 excludes all mobile applications from the scope of the Austrian Regulation and includes a definition of mobile applications. · Article 4 (restrictions) paragraph 1 specifies that f-gases are banned in principle from stationary applications (incl. a definition of stationary applications) · Article 4 paragraph 2 contains exemptions from this ban. The use of HFCs remains allowed,

• until 31/12/2007:

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1. In systems/applications with an HFC refrigerant charge up to 150g; they also remain allowed after 1/1/2008 if they are to be exported;

2. In systems/applications with a refrigerant charge above 20kg (with the exception of composite refrigeration systems with a refrigerant charge up to 50 kg);

3. In composite refrigeration systems with a refrigerant charge above 50 kg. • with no time limit: 4. cooling systems for high capacity servers 5. systems/applications (including composite refrigeration systems) with a refrigerant

charge between 150g and 20kg 6. refrigeration systems with a refrigerant charge between 20 and 50 kg

· Article 5 paragraph 2 states that a distributor that is based within the EEA (but not Austria) and who has to apply for a derogation needs to submit his application to the Federal Ministry of Environment. Under the current legislation, the application for derogation has to be submitted to the head of region (Landeshauptmann). · Article 7 paragraph 4 provides for a simplification for by deleting technical provisions. · Article 8 paragraph 2 is specific to foams. It deletes technical details and refers the submission of an application for derogation from the head of the region to the Federal Ministry of Environment. · Article 10 paragraph 4 includes the ban on f-gases in novelty aerosols – as provided of in the EU F-Gas Regulation – in the Austrian legislation. · Article 17 limits the Austrian provision on SF6 to windows. More specific provisions remain. The cover letter from the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ) questions the review. The WKÖ believes that Austrian legislation should be in line with EU-law. Therefore, the planned simplifications and facilitations do not go far enough. In order to counter-argue the reasoning of the Austrian Government in his memorandum, the WKÖ calls for specific factual arguments.

Education & vocational training

Leonardo da Vinci

The Refrigeration Craftsman project

AREA/Leonardo Project EUR/02/C/F/NT- 84604

Mail received by Mr. J. Reijmers, Project Coordinator, on November 14 : We have received some information concerning the selection of 50 projects to be part of the "Helsinki Award" compendium and, unfortunately, your project is not on the list of selected projects. Only 2 procedure C projects were among the selected projects out of the 150 suggested projects.

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However, as I am confident of the quality of your project, I might be interested in suggesting this project as example in some future occasions. Therefore, I would like to know what is the situation with the "Refrigeration Craftsman" for the time being. Are you still organising the "Skills competitions"? Are there new countries that are interested or are you planning to disseminate the product further? Thank you very much for your cooperation un this process. Regards, Rea BRUNILA project manager Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency Unit P3 – Leonardo da Vinci

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The Members have been informed how to log in on this e-learning website : Welcome to Star Refrigeration Enhancing Knowledge to Succeed elearning-training.com is a global provider of e-learning solutions with the primary aim of developing skills and knowledge. A member of the Star Refrigeration Group, elearning-training.com offers comprehensive high quality training courses in the Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration engineering industry, combining flexible learning and modern technology. elearning-training.com is backed by the resources and expertise of The Star Refrigeration Group. For more than 35 years Star’ s reputation has been built on quality, reliability, sound technical innovation and quality assurance within the refrigeration industry. elearning training.com will deliver high quality and cost-effective solutions in order to:

• eNABLE personal growth

• eXTEND individual knowledge

• eNHANCE career development prospects

• eNCOURAGE lifelong learning

• eXPAND corporate performance

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Fundamentals of ASHRAE Standard 90.1 now available

Fundamentals of ASHRAE Standard 90.1, the second in a series of ASHRAE eLearning courses from the ASHRAE Learning Institute, is now available. This

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http://www.elearning-training.com/home.aspxhttp://www.elearning-training.com/starrefrigerationgroup.aspxhttp://www.ashrae.org/publications/detail/15975

course is fully interactive and presented on-demand. In addition to learning the detailed requirements of the standard you will earn 35 PDH or 3.5 CEU credits by taking this course.

*** The first European CO2 Heat Pump short course will take place in Lyon, France on 25-26 January 2007.

This two-day short course will cover theory, design and practical aspects of the use of CO2 for heat pump applications. Invited experts from research institutes and industry will contribute as well as the Sherhpa partners. The lectures will be given in English and all the participants will receive a bound volume of the course note and copy of the overheads.

It is part of the EHPA European project SHERHPA.

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www.sherhpa.com

http://www.en.lyon-france.com/

info@greth.frweb-site www.greth.fr/sherhpa before December 20, 2006

info@greth.fre: www.greth.fr

CETIAT

Domaine Scientifique de la Doua 25, avenue des Arts, BP 2042 69603 VILLEURBANNE Cedex, France Fax: +33 (0)4 72 44 49 49 Web-site : www.cetiat.fr

THE SHERHPA PROJECT The global aim of the SHERPHA project is to develop the next generation of heat pump systems using natural refrigerants such as ammonia, carbon dioxide and propane. These refrigerants have zero ozone depletion and low global warming potential.

The project is an unusual partnership in that it is a collaboration between 19 small manufacturing enterprises and 10 research and technical institutions with two International Organisations as coordinators (GRETH and EHPA). 13 countries are represented. The project is partly funded by the EC Framework 6 program.

The technical challenges are quite clear in that natural refrigerants have different thermodynamic and chemical properties to existing refrigerants. This requires redesigning the principal components like heat exchangers and compressors to optimise the heat transfer. At the same time, appropriate control strategies are developed considering both the application and the types of components used. Other challenges involve material compatibility and requirements imposed by EU regulations to minimise the amount of refrigerant in the system. The initial performances of components have been checked in laboratory. This will help to determine parameters like mass flow rates, durability, leakage and control parameters and will also build confidence in the ability of the various components to be successfully integrated. As a result of various preliminary studies it is likely that as many as 8 prototype systems will be evaluated with sizes ranging from 3 to 100 kW.

The project will also cooperate with various compressor manufacturers who are not part of the project and who are developing prototype components which can be evaluated as part of the rig and field testing. The outputs of the project will be widely disseminated in order to build confidence in the use of natural refrigerants and reports will be released periodically including background studies. Some of these reports will have restricted circulation and only be available to EHPA and GRETH members.

More information:

VENUE Lyon is located in Rhone-Alpes, and his connected to all major European cities. Lyon has a long cultural heritage, a strong industrial and scientific activity. Lyon is at the heart of a touristic region.

Information at: REGISTRATION FEES Registration fees are 600 euros per person and 400 euros for Greth, EHPA or CETIAT members. It includes the short-course participation, a copy of the course notes, coffee-breaks and 2 lunches.

Send the registration form to the Greth secretariat and or fill in-line the form on Greth

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This short course is organised within the SHERHPA project (COLL-CT-2004-500229), which is supported by the EU FP6 Horizontal Research Activities involving SMEs. INFORMATION The short course is jointly organised by Greth and Cetiat within the SHERHPA project. For further information, please contact GRETh or CETIAT

GRETh Savoie Technolac 50 av du Lac Léman, BP302 73375 Le Bourget du Lac, France Fax: +33 (0) 479 72 20 16 E-mail: Web sit

Technical matters The MINIREF Project

A symposium is scheduled by the Project leader TNO, on March 29, 2007 in their installations, in Apeldoorn (NL).

***

Mr. Kadir Isa of ISEDA raised the question of acceptable leakage rates in VRF systems. Answer from Mr. Graeme Fox, RAC Group, HVCA, UK, TEC Chairman : I do not believe there is such a thing as a maximum leakage rate allowed but, as with all chemicals, there is (or should be) a safety data sheet available for each refrigerant. This should make clear the exposure limit levels - which will generally differ between each refrigerant. Having said that I believe (since you are asking about VRV/VRF) that you will be mainly concerned here with R22, R407C or R410a. I have attached the relevant data sheets for each of these for your records. These show for each of these chemicals that a limit of 1000 ppm (parts per million) is safe. The problem with VRF is that potentially you can have around 20 to kgs of refrigerant being leaked into a small office, for example, which would make it difficult to get permission to use VRF in many, if not most, applications. You can get around this by using leak detection sensors in each occupied area of the building and linking this by use of central controllers, etc to automatically shut down (or preferably pump down) the equipment where a leak is detected. This may become necessary under the terms of the F Gas regulation anyway depending on the total charge and, if not, may be desired by some end users to reduce the frequency of inspections and keep costs down. A pump down method already exists on some VRF (Mitsubishi Electric and Daikin R407Csystems had a pump down mechanism they claimed was to counter this effect - it also had the benefit of pumping down the system in instances of fractionation or zeotropic distillation occuring!). Whether this still applies to R410a systems or not I do not know. What will be alloweable will depend mainly on: a) The total charge of refrigerant; b) The volume of each space in the building where it is possible for a leak to occur; c) The presence of leak detection sensors - so it is difficult to define precisely what you ask for here. Complementary information from Mr. Peter Tomlein, SZ CHKT, SK. The Safety Data Sheet from R410A, R407C and R22 which has Graeme attached to his answer are on the base of the Regulation on chemical substances (I surely know the number of this

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Regulation in our country no 163/2001. In EU as I know it is no. 92/32/ES and EU 67/548/EEC). These Practical limits (PL) for each refrigerant and the relation between the location of refrigerant system and type of refrigerant are in the EN 378-1. PS. VRV Daikin 3rd generation presented this year has its own leakage control based on measurement of temperatures and pressures done in regular intervals. It is interesting but I do not know more about the principle. It can recognize leakage under the 10 % of the refrigerant charge. Not to exceed the PL when the tubes with refrigerants of VRV are only crossing through the small rooms, where the concentration in case of leakage can exceed PL there the refrigerant tube can be installed into another one which ends for example on the open air. Standardisation CEN – revision of EN 13313 AREA is indirectly represented by MM. J. Hoogkamer, P. Bachmann, L. Nordell and J. Reijmers.

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CEN/TC 182/ WG 4 ‘Revision of EN 13313’ – ADDRESSLIST 2006-11-01 Name FAMILY NAME Telephone number

Fax number Mobile number

Firm+Address Emailaddress Standard Institute

Mr. Gaétan Antonucci T +32 26639873 F +32 26639849

TRANE Chaussée de Wavre 1789 B – 1160 Brussels BELGIUM

Gaetan_Antonucci@trane.com

AFNOR M

Mr. Laurent Legin T +33 329317442 F +33 329812401

TRANE BP 6 F-88191 Golbey Cedex FRANCE

ILegin@trane.fr

AFNOR M

Ms. Jeanne Mandeng T +33 147176779 F +33 147176799

UNM F-92038 Paris La Defense Cedex FRANCE

j.mandeng@unm.fr

AFNOR M

Mrs. Els Baert T +32 59558681 F +32 59558899

DAIKIN EUROPE NV Zandvoordestraat 300 B – 8400 Oostende BELGIUM

Baert.e@daikineurope.com

BIN M

Mr. Martin Dieryckx T +32 59558681 F +32 59558899

DAIKIN EUROPE NV Zandvoordestraat 300 B – 8400 Oostende BELGIUM

Dieryckx.m@daikineurope.com

BIN M

Mr. Peter Bachmann T +49 22824989-61 F +49 22824989-62

Bundesinnungsverband des Deutschen Kälteanlagenbauerhandwerke (BIV) GERMANY

Peter.bachmann@biv-kaelte.de

DIN M

Mr. Marcus Breidenbach T +49 (0)8951903160 F +49 (0)8951551074

GERMANY

Marcus.breidenbach@tuev-sued.de

DIN M

Mr. Jörg Peters T +49 (0)3633142360 F +49 (0)3633142232

GERMANY

nsw@bfs-kaelte-klima.de

DIN M

Mr. Joop Hoogkamer T +31 (0)79 3531130

NVKL P.O. Box 190 2700 AD Zoetermeer THE NETHERLANDS

joh@fme.nl NEN M

Mr. Jan Reijmers T +31 (0)73 5992628 F +31 (0)73 5949114

P.O. Box 98 5324 AL Ammerzoden THE NETHERLANDS

janreijmers@planet.nl

NEN C

Mr. Bart Van Cleef T +31 (0)15 2690169 F +31 (0)15 2690287

NEN P.O. Box 5059 2600 GB Delft THE NETHERLANDS

Bart.vancleef@nen.nl

NEN M

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Mr. Rene Van Gerwen T +31 (0)10 4665700

Unilever Engineering P.O. Box 114 3130 AC Vlaardingen THE NETHERLANDS

rene-van.gerwen@unilever.com NEN M

Mr. Lars Nordell T +46 18429137 M +46 709627515

Kylbranches Samarbetsstiftelse P.O. Box 17537 11891 Stockholm SWEDEN

Lars.nordell@kyl.se

SIS M

Mr. Alex Hug T +41 448497912 M +41 796473471

Albrecht Engineering AG Hüttenwiesenstrasse 8 CH – 8108 Dällikon

a.hug@efcooling.com

SNV M

Mr. Daniele Farina T +39 (0)39328576

COAER – c/o ANIMA Via Scarsellini 13 20161 Milano ITALY

farinassociati@tin.it

UNI M

Mr. Giovanni Redaelli T +39 (0)39368091

COAER – c/o ANIMA Via Scarsellini 13 20161 Milano ITALY

Giovanni.redaelli@libero.it

UNI M

M = Member D = only documents S = Secretary Bart van Cleef, NEN, The Netherlands C = Convenor Jan Reijmers, The Netherlands

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European Commission / Council Working time Directive The European working time directive guarantees workers at least four weeks' paid annual leave, a minimum period of 11 hours' rest every 24 hours, at least one day's rest per week, and a rest break if the working day is longer than six hours. It also says night workers should work a maximum of eight hours, on average, in every 24, and entitles them to health assessments. The UK has fought moves to end the opt-out, on the grounds that labour market flexibility promotes economic growth and lowers unemployment. Five countries, including France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus argue that the opt-out is bad for workers' health, and gives the UK a competitive advantage. Source : Euractiv.com – November 8

Working-time deal eludes ministers

Labour ministers broke up their 7 November 2006 summit with an agreement on working time further away than before. As a result, the British opt-out is there to stay and the Commission will begin infringement proceedings against most member states. Background:

The meeting, which was initially scheduled to last until 20.00, and possibly much longer, was called off late in the afternoon when it became clear that there was no common denominator between two camps of member-state governments determined, respectively, to save the opt-out possibility or to dispose of it. A proposal for a compromise put forward by the Finnish presidency failed to accommodate either side. Issues:

Britain, which is at the helm of the camp wanting to keep the opt-out, got support from most of the ten new member states' governments. Germany, the country holding the EU Presidency during the first half of 2007, is unlikely to make another attempt to resolve the opt-out issue. Gerd Andres, state secretary in the German ministry of labour and social affairs, said that the opt-out must remain an option, adding: "Social Europe will not perish if we allow exceptions." Andres is a member of the German Social Democrat party (SPD). Germany is also one of only two countries unlikely to face an infringement procedure for failing to transpose the ruling of the Court of Justice concerning on-call time in the medical professions. The Court ruled that, under the present directive, this time must be counted as working time. In principle, ministers agreed that, in order to avoid excessive costs for most member states' health systems, the rules must be changed. The camp, lead by France, which opposes the UK opt-out, will however not allow for the directive to be amended without a clear timeline for opt-out removal. Positions:

Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Vladimír Špidla warned ministers that he will have to launch legal action against 23 member states if the present directive remains unchanged. Addressing the French-led camp, Špidla added that he considered a negotiation strategy a paradox which, in the name of cutting down working time, would result in the old rules staying in place. These allow, under certain conditions, weekly working times up to 78 hours.

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John Cridland, deputy director-general of the UK employers' association CBI, welcomed the outcome of the meeting, saying: "The ability for individuals to opt out from the 48-hour working week is a vital part of the UK's flexible labour market." Hans-Werner Müller, secretary-general of the small- and medium-sized business association UEAPME, said: "The current situation concerning working time in Europe is unbearable both economically and politically, with 23 out of 25 member states being in breach of the current laws. Swift actions and workable rules are needed, especially as far as the definition of 'on-call' working time is concerned. If no agreement can be reached on the Directive as a whole, it may be wise to deal with 'on-call' working time separately, in order to stop legal uncertainties and burdensome costs for SMEs."

***

Council cold on taxes for energy efficiency Source : ENDS Europe DAILY November 7 ------------------------- Member states are close to finalising their response to a recent EU action plan on energy efficiency proposed by the European commission. Pointedly, the council's draft conclusions avoid any reference to the commission's desire to "facilitate a more targeted and coherent use of energy taxation". Early drafts of the conclusions had spoken of "encouraging the commission to examine the potential of financial instruments and economic incentives" for promoting energy efficiency. All such references have since been removed from the text, as objections by some member states meant that the required unanimity was not going to be achieved. Government officials also disagreed on how best to achieve the EU's objective of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from new cars to 120 grams per kilometre by 2012. Germany is one of the countries opposed to commission proposals for legislation forcing carmakers to improve vehicle efficiency. As a result, a council source told ENDS that a compromise was agreed calling for an "integrated approach including legislation and voluntary agreements". In the action plan, the commission stated its intention to propose a "substantial expansion" of the 2002 buildings energy performance directive in 2009. The council agrees that such an expansion should be considered, but only after an assessment of the current implementation of the directive has been carried out. Many member states have struggled to implement key provisions in the directive. The council identifies five key priorities for action from among the 70 initiatives specified in the plan. As well as improvements in building and vehicle efficiency, the conclusions will call for strengthened minimum efficiency requirements for energy-using products, an expansion of the energy labelling directive, and further development of energy efficient technologies. European Parliament / Council

Parliament concurs with Council on Services Directive Source : Euractiv.com - November 15

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The Parliament has adopted, with the votes of its three largest groups, the much-disputed Services Directive, paving the way for the its entry into force in early 2010. It voted against all amendments to a summer 2006 Council compromise. Background: Services make up around two-thirds of economic activities in the EU, but currently only some 20% of cross-border business. It is believed that the directive could boost cross-border provision of services, leading to as many as 600,000 new jobs in Europe. The Services Directive, formerly also known as the Bolkestein Directive, after former commissioner Fritz Bolkestein who introduced it, is described by PSE MEP Arlene McCarthy as "the single most important and most disputed piece of legislation in the EU". Following public resistance, particularly in France, the Parliament voted, on 16 February 2006 in favour of a version of the directive that watered down the Commission's proposal. Following a political agreement at the end of May 2006, the Council adopted its Common Position on the directive on 24 July almost unanimously. Only Belgium and Lithuania abstained. The common position took most of Parliament's amendments on board, but changed the wording on a number of the directive's most disputed issues (see 'Issues', below), which the Council claimed was necessary for legal clarification. The Commission enhanced the Council's Common Position. Issues: The Parliament's three largest groups - the EPP-DE (Conservatives), PSE (Social Democrats) and ALDE (Liberals) had not tabled any amendments and voted in favour of the Common Position. Identical amendments of the GUE/NGL (Left) and UEN (Right) aiming at rejecting the Common Position were voted down by 408 to 105 votes. Due to the rules of procedure for second-reading votes in Parliament, the proposal was approved without a final vote. Prior to the vote, Commissioner Charlie McCreevy addressed in the Parliament's plenary what the rapporteur, Evelyne Gebhardt (PSE, Germany) regards as the key questions:

• assistance to member states for the proper implementation of the Services Directive. "Analyses and orientations" given by the European Commission will neither provide legally binding interpretation nor amend the provisions of the Services Directive.

• the need to consider additional further harmonisation within the field of services' sector.

• on the following existing legal provision, the Commissioner stated globally that the Directive does not affect national law and practices already in place:

o labour law

o criminal law and

o social services. And the feedback from Industry :

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http://www.europarl.europa.eu/omk/sipade3?PROG=TA&L=EN&REF_P=P6_TA-2006-0061http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/06/st10/st10003.en06.pdf

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News from our Members Recently elected Presidents We express congratulations to : Mr. Aurelio Martell Rojas, President of ANEFRYC (Spain), Mr. Finn Braekke, President of KELF (Norway) and Mr. Gerhard Neuhauser, President of ÖKKV (Austria).

*** Message from Mr. Jiri Broz (S CHKT) on certification “Mr. Dobiasovsky and I talked during our flight back to Prague about attestation and certification, as specified in the F-gas Regulation. Those certificates or Green Cards should be numbered and we thought about a following numbering system: ISO code of country and consecutive number ( for example CZ123456 or 123456CZ), CZ for the Czech Republic. Sister Associations ORGALIME General comment on the work of “Europe” In the light of the European institutions’ commitment on Better Regulation and Simplification, Orgalime is highly concerned with a number of recent proposals, which in our view would negatively impact the competitiveness of European engineering industries while establishing overlapping, conflicting and unenforceable requirements that are not necessarily beneficial for the environment and consumers.

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EHPA The European Heat Pumps Association has recruteded a communication officer to support their work. Mr. Thomas Nowak has started to work for EHPA on October 1st. Mr. Nowak will initially be responsible for a direct support of EHPA’s executive committee as well as for internal and external communication activities.

He can be contacted as follows:

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Thomas Nowak Phone: +49 211 260 6157 Mobile: +49 176 6320 1140 Fax: +49 941 500 202 404 Mail: thomas.nowak@ehpa.org

*** EPEE European Partnership for Energy and the Environment

The contract with Hill and Knowlton ends on 31st of December 2006. The new PR partner will be Grayling, Rue du Luxembourg 14A, B-1000 Brussels Tel.+32 2 732 7040 Fax +32 2 732 7176 e-mail: info@be.grayling.com website: www.grayling.com Grayling is headed by Mr. Russell Patten.

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mailto:info@be.grayling.comhttp://www.grayling.com/

EPEE disclosed its revised structure. AREA is mainly active in the Strategy (F-gas and Energy Efficiency) working groups.

New EPEE Structure

General Assembly

Steering Committee Executive Committee

Audit and Budget Compensation Nominating Strategy Communications

F-Gas

Energy Efficiency

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Events Inspection and Audit of Air-Conditioning in the UK and Europe Free one day seminar 19 December 2006 - BRE, Watford This seminar deals with the important issue of improving the energy efficiency of existing air-conditioning systems. It will be of value to energy and facilities managers of buildings with air-conditioning, and also to those who are may be involved with the forthcoming European requirement that systems be regularly inspected. It will present new tools for this purpose, including several from the almost-completed European project AuditAC. There will also be summaries of UK guidance for EPBD inspections and of the European draft standard on the topic. Case Studies collected by the AuditAC project will be discussed, along with an analysis of the cost and benefits of an inspection programme. For more information: Caroline McGill; events@bre.co.uk

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2nd International Conference Solar Air-Conditioning with exhibition Tarragona, Costa Dorada, Spain October 18th/19th, 2007.

Gabriele Struthoff-Mueller Conference Manager OTTI e.V. gabriele.struthoff-mueller@otti.de Tel.:+49 941 29688-29 Fax :+49 941 29688-17

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mailto:events@bre.co.uk

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