This article is a brief rundown of the key legislative issues facing the vending industry at the moment. EVA members can of course login to our website in order to consult the latest EU Newsletter with further details and articles.

Ecodesign & Energy Labelling Regulations approved
The Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Regulations for refrigerating appliances with a direct sales function impacting chilled vending machines, have been officially approved. The Regulations in the next weeks are to be published in the official EU Journal and thereafter enter force.
For vending, we have identified a number of technical issues in the final versions of the legislation, a will be requesting the Commission to publish an associated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document in order to explain the legislative intent and to ensure consistency in approach by member states authorities.

Single use Plastics Directive approved; member states start implementation already.
The Directive on Single Use Plastics (SUP) was approved by representatives Member States on 21 May. After the Parliament approval in March, this was now the last procedural step before the Directive is published in the official EU journal and enters force, which is expected in the 3rd quarter.
There have been a number of important – and worrying – developments in several national markets over the last month, particularly in Germany and France.
In Germany, a departmental report recommends a number of drastic measures, including:
• Levies of €0.20 per cup and €0.10 per lid
• A compulsory deposit of €0.25
• A reduction of disposable beverage cups by 50 percent in the next 2-3 years

The German Vending Association (BDV) has issued a position paper and response to the report conclusions, explaining the catastrophic impact the recommendations could have and are continuing direct talks with politicians and stakeholders.

In France, the French Vending Association (NAVSA) is in discussions with the policy officer in charge of transposing the European Directive into French law. The French Ministry of Environmental Transition has the current legislative intention to implement the EU Directive with full bans on single use plastic cups, rather than the specified reduction consumption. These developments demonstrate how important it is that the EVA and national associations need to closely monitor all national developments, aiming to alleviate extreme measures and interpretations of the SUP Directive.

BMI study questions ‘simplistic’ UK sugar tax.
A new study led by the University of Nottingham and presented at the European Congress of Obesity has found no direct link between the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and elevated Body mass index (BMI) in children, prompting questions on the effectiveness of the UK’s sugar tax.
The EVA has long argued that while all actors must play their relevant part, there is no one magic bullet to reduce the worrying treads of obesity, and that intensive education to achieve societal norm changes could have more of a lasting impact.

EVA Energy Measurement Protocol (EMP) 3.1a withdrawn since 1 July

As reported previously, the EVA Energy Measurement Protocol (EMP) for refrigerated vending machines has been withdrawn.
Since 1 July, the decision to with draw the EMP means specifically that:
• EMP energy consumption declarations should be removed from websites, online brochures and all other marketing materials. Websites and machine brochures should not mention things like ‘rated A,’ ‘this machine has a high energy efficiency rating’ as this can no longer be substantiated.
• All machine model brochures/PDFs should have EMP references and result declarations removed and replaced with EN 50597 testing results.
• While the EMP already made clear that it was not permitted, the EMP energy scale – or partial versions of the scale – cannot appear as a label directly on a machine.

The EVA will be continuing to publish the information in different communication formats to help manufacturers and operators explain what is changing and why: EVA EMP Changes video