Executive Summary:
This EEA Joint Committee Decision No. 135/2022 amends Annex IV (Energy) to the EEA Agreement to incorporate Directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings. It provides temporary exemptions and adaptations for Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The decision entered into force on April 30, 2022, pending notification under Article 103(1) of the EEA Agreement.
Key Points / Main Content:
* **Incorporation of Directive 2010/31/EU:**
* Directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings is incorporated into the EEA Agreement.
* **Iceland's Exemption:**
* Iceland is granted a temporary and conditional exemption from applying Directive 2010/31/EU, as in force before amendment by Directive EU 2018/844.
* This exemption applies until an agreement is reached concerning the incorporation of Directive 2010/31/EU as amended by Directive EU 2018/844 into the EEA Agreement.
* **Liechtenstein's Exemptions and Adaptations:**
* Liechtenstein is exempted from the obligation under Article 5 of the EPBD to carry out its own calculations for the establishment of cost-optimal levels of minimum energy performance requirements for buildings.
* Liechtenstein may use the calculations of another Contracting Party having comparative parameters for establishing cost-optimal levels.
* Liechtenstein may base their requirements for energy use on net energy, provided specific conditions and safeguards are fulfilled, including setting minimum energy performance requirements in line with Article 5 of the EPBD and publishing a numeric indicator of primary energy use.
* **Norway's Adaptations:**
* Norway may base their requirements for energy use on net energy, provided specific conditions and safeguards are fulfilled, including setting minimum energy performance requirements in line with Article 5 of the EPBD and publishing a numeric indicator of primary energy use.
* Norway may establish a simplified user-operated energy performance certification system for residential buildings as an alternative to expert-issued certificates, if specific conditions related to data availability, information on improvements, user support, quality control, and equivalent results are met.
Impact Analysis:
* **Iceland:**
* *Impact:* Temporarily exempt from Directive 2010/31/EU on energy performance of buildings.
* *Action Required:* Monitor for future agreements concerning the incorporation of Directive 2010/31/EU as amended by Directive EU 2018/844.
* **Liechtenstein:**
* *Impact:* Exempt from certain calculation obligations and allowed flexibility in setting energy performance requirements.
* *Action Required:* Utilize calculations from other Contracting Parties, ensure conditions are met if basing energy use requirements on net energy.
* **Norway:**
* *Impact:* Allowed flexibility in setting energy performance requirements and establishing user-operated certification systems.
* *Action Required:* Ensure conditions are met if basing energy use requirements on net energy, and if establishing a user-operated certification system.
* **EEA Joint Committee:**
* *Impact:* Responsible for the decision and its implementation.
* *Action Required:* Ensure the decision is published in the Official Journal of the European Union and monitor its implementation.
* **European Commission:**
*Impact:* Reserves the right to revisit the specific adaptation in the context of future negotiations on the EPBD as amended by Directive EU 2018/844.
*Action Required:* Monitor the implementation of the adaptations and potentially renegotiate them in the future.
Key Entities Referenced
EEA Agreement: The Agreement on the European Economic Area.
EEA Joint Committee: The decision-making body responsible for amending Annex IV Energy to the EEA Agreement.
Directive 2010/31/EU: Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the energy performance of buildings (the EPBD).
European Parliament: One of the legislative bodies of the European Union.
Council of the European Union: One of the legislative bodies of the European Union.
Iceland: A country within the European Economic Area, granted a temporary exemption from applying Directive 2010/31/EU.
Liechtenstein: A country within the European Economic Area, exempted from certain obligations under Article 5 of the EPBD.
Norway: A country within the European Economic Area, allowed to stipulate regulations on minimum energy performance requirements using a different system boundary.
22.9.2022 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 246/87
DECISION OF THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE No 135/2022
of 29 April 2022
amending Annex IV (Energy) to the EEA Agreement [2022/1579]
THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE,
Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (‘the EEA Agreement’), and in particular Article 98
thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010on the energy performance of
buildings(1)(‘the EPBD’) is to be incorporated into the EEA Agreement.
(2) Due to the specificities of Iceland’s relatively recent and uniform building stock, a temporary and conditional
exemption from applying Directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings is agreed. That exemption
should apply to Directive 2010/31/EU as in force before the amendment by Directive (EU) 2018/844 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018. The exemption should be strictly limited in time and
should apply only until an agreement is reached concerning the incorporation of Directive 2010/31/EU as amended
by Directive (EU) 2018/844 into the EEA Agreement.
(3) In line with the very small size of the building stock in Liechtenstein and its climatic and building typology,
Liechtenstein is exempted from the obligation under Article 5 of the EPBD to carry out its own calculations for the
establishment of cost-optimal levels of minimum energy performance requirements for buildings.
(4) Pursuant to the conditions of adaptation (c), Norway and Liechtenstein may stipulate regulations on minimum
energy performance requirements using a different system boundary than primary energy use which is the one
required under the EPBD, provided that the conditions stipulated in adaptation (c) are met.
(5) Adaptation (d) ensures that the user-operated energy performance certification system in Norway produces
equivalent results to certificates issued by independent experts as required by Article 17 of the EPBD.
(6) Annex IV to the EEA Agreement should therefore be amended accordingly,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
The text of point 17 (Directive 2002/91/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council) of Annex IV of the EEA
Agreement is replaced by the following:
‘32010 L 0031: Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the energy
performance of buildings (OJ L 153, 18.6.2010, p. 13).
The provisions of the Directive shall, for the purposes of this Agreement, be read with the following adaptations:
(a) The Directive shall not apply to Iceland.
(b) The following shall be added to Article 5(2):
“For the purpose of establishing the cost-optimal levels of minimum energy performance requirements, Liechtenstein
may use the calculations of another Contracting Party having comparative parameters.”.
(1) OJ L 153, 18.6.2010, p. 13.L 246/88 EN Official Journal of the European Union 22.9.2022
(c) For the purpose of Article 9(3)(a) and Annex I of the EPBD, Liechtenstein and Norway may base their requirements for
energy use on net energy, provided that the following conditions and safeguards are fulfilled:
(i) The minimum energy performance requirements are set in line with the requirements of Article 5 of the EPBD,
following the basic principles of the methodology framework, which has been established for the calculation of
cost-optimal levels of minimum energy performance requirements(2).
(ii) A numeric indicator of primary energy use corresponding to the energy performance requirements set in the
building code is published.
(iii) The Commission reserves the right to revisit this specific adaptation in the context of the future negotiations on
the EPBD as amended by Directive (EU) 2018/844.
(d) The following shall be added to Article 17:
“EFTA States may establish a simplified user-operated energy performance certification system for residential buildings
that can be used as an alternative to the use of experts if the following conditions are met:
(i) There is a thorough knowledge and good quality data available on the entire residential building stock, including
all the building typologies and age bands, and the characteristics of the building envelope and technical building
systems in use per typology, which enables the calculation of the energy performance of individual buildings and
building units with a high degree of certainty on the basis of user inputs.
(ii) Detailed information is available on cost-optimal or cost-effective improvements for each building typology.
(iii) Measures are in place to support the users to operate the system for the purpose of the system issuing building
certificates. These measures may include a helpline or advisory services that will enable contact between the users
on the one hand, and independent experts and system experts on the other.
(iv) To ensure negligible risk of manipulation of results, the user-operated certification system includes quality control
and verification mechanism(s) to check users’ input data and that the users’ input data are transparent.
(v) Independent control systems are in place to ensure that the user-operated energy performance certification
produces equivalent results to certificates issued by experts, in terms of quality and reliability.
(vi) The user-operated system issues recommendations which can advise the users of cost-optimal or cost-effective
improvements specific for their buildings and building units.”’.
Article 2
The text of Directive 2010/31/EU in the Icelandic and Norwegian languages, to be published in the EEA Supplement to the
Official Journal of the European Union, shall be authentic.
Article 3
This Decision shall enter into force on 30 April 2022, provided that all the notifications under Article 103(1) of the EEA
Agreement have been made*.
Article 4
This Decision shall be published in the EEA Section of, and in the EEA Supplement to, the Official Journal of the European
Union.
(2) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 244/2012 of 16 January 2012 supplementing Directive 2010/31/EU of the European
Parliament and of the Council on the energy performance of buildings by establishing a comparative methodology framework for
calculating cost-optimal levels of minimum energy performance requirements for buildings and building elements.
(*) Constitutional requirements indicated.22.9.2022 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 246/89
Done at Brussels, 29 April 2022.
For the EEA Joint Committee
The President
Nicolas VON LINGEN