Public sector buyers of office equipment will have to apply strict energy efficiency criteria after MEPs passed new procurement rules.

The European Parliament adopted new regulations based on its Energy Star programme on 10 July. Under the new rules, EU institutions and central government authorities in member states will have to apply energy efficiency criteria of the level defined in the Energy Star scheme when purchasing office equipment.

It is the first time the council, the European Parliament and the dommission have agreed that certain green standards should become legally binding in public procurement.

The Energy Star programme is part of the EU's strategy to improve the management of energy demand, help secure energy supply and mitigate climate change. It includes, among other things, a database of approved products with energy consumption and performance data.

Commenting on the agreement, EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs said: "This result underlines the EU's commitment to reach the energy efficiency targets agreed at the March council. It is important both for environmental reasons and as a means of saving taxpayers' money, since energy efficient office equipment is also cost effective."

The council is expected to adopt the regulation this month.

This article was originally published at Kablenet.

Kablenet's GC weekly is a free email newsletter covering the latest news and analysis of public sector technology. To register click here.

Related stories

Brussels mandates Energy Star for green procurement (18 December 2007)
Audit commission tells councils to get competitive (28 November 2007)
Public procurement directive strengthens rights of rejected bidders (20 November 2007)
MPs call for climate change minister (29 October 2007)
Earth will feel the heat from 2009: climate boffins (10 August 2007)
T-Mobile wants our phones (7 August 2007)
UK gov should move into PC reseller biz, says report (31 July 2007)
Council worker develops PC energy-saving program (30 July 2007)
Users to force green IT agenda (20 July 2007)
EU info group probes UK.gov IT strategy (12 July 2007)
EU's anti-fraud boss to be hauled before European Parliament (6 July 2007)
MEP plans EU build ban on cars faster than 100mph (3 July 2007)
MEPs draft ring of flowers for fortress Europe (8 June 2007)
EU aims to stop 'visa shopping' (8 June 2007)
Immigrant data protected from EU police (15 May 2007)
Brussels rolls coppers over rights barrel (5 April 2007)