EU Council proposes four-month label transition

On 6 November, the Council of the EU adopted its negotiating position on simplifying energy and tyre labelling. For Hungarian appliance and tyre retailers, the proposed time for adapting stock may be particularly important, but the statement still describes a negotiating proposal.

The Council text would allow four months after a label rescaling to sell stock bearing the old label. It proposes a separate twelve-month arrangement for products no longer placed on the market or where a supplier has ceased operating. These are different situations; they do not establish one deadline applicable to every product in a shop.

Our preparation suggestion is to record the product model, label version and supplier status separately in the stock list. This would make affected goods traceable when the final provisions appear. The costs of changing printed material, online product pages and warehouse records can also be estimated separately; actual savings achieved under the proposal are not yet known.

The repairability consultation is preparing a different product requirement, while the Council position on chemicals regulation concerns different goods. The next step is the European Parliament's own position, followed by negotiations between the institutions. The definitive transition periods and application date can then be checked against the adopted text.

Preparation can also include assigning responsibility for updating label information across sales channels. A consistent version log may later help compare information displayed in the physical shop and the online store.