第21条 自主規制措置

1. Economic operators may submit to the Commission a self-regulation measure setting ecodesign requirements for products not falling within the scope of a delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 4 or not included in the working plan. Those operators shall provide evidence that the criteria referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article are fulfilled.

2. The self-regulation measure submitted pursuant to paragraph 1 shall contain the following information:

(a)a list of the economic operators that are signatories to the self-regulation measure;

(b)the ecodesign requirements applicable to products covered by the self-regulation measure;

(c)a detailed, transparent and objective monitoring plan, with clearly identified responsibilities for industry and independent inspectors, including the criteria set out in Annex VI, point 6;

(d)rules on information to be reported by signatories and on testing and inspections;

(e)rules on the consequences of the non-compliance of a signatory that include provisions whereby, if the signatory has not undertaken sufficient corrective action within three months, it is removed from the signatories of that self-regulation measure; and

(f)a note explaining how the self-regulation measure submitted pursuant to paragraph 1 improves the environmental sustainability of products in line with the objectives of this Regulation more quickly or at lesser expense than a delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 4; that note shall be supported by evidence, consisting of a structured technical, environmental and economic analysis, justifying the ecodesign requirements and objectives of the self-regulation measure, and assessing the impacts of those ecodesign requirements.

The signatories of the self-regulation measure shall keep the information referred to in this paragraph up-to-date and available on a publicly and freely accessible website.

The signatories of the self-regulation measure shall, without delay, notify the Commission of any changes to the self-regulation measure, in particular any changes concerning them.

3. The Commission shall assess the submitted self-regulation measure, and, where necessary, shall seek scientific advice from Union decentralised agencies. In the assessment, the Commission shall verify whether the following criteria are fulfilled:

(a)the self-regulation measure is submitted by at least two economic operators;

(b)the market share in terms of volume of the signatories to the self-regulation measure in relation to the products covered by that measure is at least 80 % of units placed on the market or put into service;

(c)the self-regulation measure contributes to improving the environmental sustainability of products in line with the objectives of this Regulation and to ensuring the free movement in the internal market more quickly or at a lesser expense than a delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 4 and consists of ecodesign requirements that are necessary to achieve the objectives of this Regulation;

(d)the self-regulation measure complies with the criteria set out in Annex VI;

(e)the self-regulation measure is in line with Union law and international trade commitments of the Union.

The Commission shall adopt an implementing act containing a list of self-regulation measures which fulfil the criteria of this Article. That implementing act shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 73(2).

4. The Commission may at any point in time request the signatories to a self-regulation measure listed in an implementing act adopted pursuant to paragraph 3, second subparagraph, to submit, within an appropriate period of time, a revised and updated version of that measure in view of relevant market or technological developments relating to the product group concerned. Where the Commission has reason to believe that the criteria set out in this Article are no longer fulfilled, the signatories shall submit a revised and updated version of that measure within three months of the request made by the Commission.

5. Once a self-regulation measure has been listed in an implementing act adopted pursuant to paragraph 3, second subparagraph, the signatories of that measure shall report to the Commission, at regular intervals set out in that implementing act, on the progress made towards achieving the objectives of the self-regulation measure and to demonstrate that the criteria set in paragraph 3 remain fulfilled.

The independent inspector referred to in Annex VI, point 6, shall notify the Commission of the lack of compliance of a signatory.

Progress reports, including compliance reports made by the independent inspector, and notifications about lack of compliance and corresponding corrective action shall be made available by the signatories on a publicly accessible website.

6. Where the Commission considers that a self-regulation measure listed in an implementing act adopted pursuant to paragraph 3, second subparagraph, no longer fulfils the criteria set out in this Article or where the signatories of the self-regulation measure concerned did not meet the deadline referred to in paragraph 4, it shall delete that measure from the list referred to in paragraph 3 by means of implementing acts. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 73(2).

Where a self-regulation measure has been deleted from the list referred to in paragraph 3, the Commission may set ecodesign requirements applicable to the product covered by that self-regulation measure in a delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 4.