EPREL — the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling — is the European database in which suppliers register products subject to the energy label. For a distributor, it is not a registration subject: it is a display subject. The label, the class and the product information sheet must appear on every online offer, next to the price, in a format the texts describe down to the pixel. Here is what they require, and the attributes you need to hold in order to comply across a whole catalogue.
What EPREL is, and what it is not
The database is established by Article 12 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369, which sets the framework for energy labelling. It has a publicly accessible part and a compliance part available to market surveillance authorities.
The registration duty falls on the supplier — manufacturer or importer. Article 4 is unambiguous: since 1 January 2019, before placing on the market a unit of a new model covered by a delegated act, the supplier registers the information listed in Annex I. Two points are worth remembering: a product modified in a way that affects its label or product information sheet is treated as a new model, and the information is kept for fifteen years in the compliance part after the last unit is placed on the market.
EPREL is therefore not a counter where a dealer declares anything. It is a source of truth a dealer must link to — and check its own display against.
Which products are covered
The scope is set by delegated regulations adopted category by category. Currently covered, among others: washing machines and washer-dryers, dishwashers, tumble dryers, refrigerating appliances, electronic displays, light sources, air conditioners, space heaters and water heaters, ventilation units, domestic ovens and range hoods, and tyres under Regulation (EU) 2020/740.
Two recent changes bear directly on electronics catalogues:
- Smartphones and tablets — Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1669 makes the energy label applicable from 20 June 2025, with exclusions for flexible displays and smartphones designed for high-security communications.
- Household tumble dryers — Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2534 moved the category onto the new A-G scale on 1 July 2025.
A useful point in the other direction: vacuum cleaners no longer have an energy label. Delegated Regulation (EU) No 665/2013 was annulled by the General Court of the European Union on 8 November 2018 (Case T-544/13, Dyson v Commission), and the Commission now states that these products no longer carry a label. Only the ecodesign requirements of Regulation (EU) No 666/2013 remain. A catalogue still showing an energy class on vacuum cleaners is showing information that no longer has a regulatory basis.
The dealer's display obligations
Article 5 of Regulation 2017/1369 requires dealers to display visibly, including in online distance selling, the label received from the supplier, and to make the product information sheet available to customers. Article 6 adds the duty to state the energy class and the range of classes in any visual advertisement and in technical promotional material relating to a specific model.
The detail of online display is set by the annexes of the delegated regulations — for example Annex VIII of Regulation (EU) 2019/2016 for refrigerating appliances. They describe a precise mechanism:
- The label is displayed in proximity to the price, at a size that is clearly visible and legible.
- It may be nested: a coloured arrow carrying the class letter and the range of available classes acts as the trigger, and the full label appears on a mouse click, mouse roll-over or touch-screen expansion — in a pop-up, a new tab, a new page or an inset screen display.
- The class letter inside the arrow is in a font size equivalent to that of the price.
- The product information sheet is likewise displayed near the price; in a nested display it must appear on the first mouse click and the link must clearly read “product information sheet”.
- The alternative text for the image, shown if the label fails to display, must state the energy class in the same font size as the price.
These rules apply to every channel: your own site, marketplaces, comparison sites. The same data therefore has to exist as many times as there are outbound feeds — which makes it a product attribute, not a snippet embedded in the storefront theme.
The EPREL registration number and the public API
Every registered model receives an EPREL registration number, a unique identifier in the database. It can be retrieved through the QR code on the labels of the categories concerned — a matrix barcode which, as the delegated regulations define it, points to the model's information in the public part of the database — or by searching that public part.
The Commission provides a public API aimed in particular at online shops subject to the duty to display the label and product information sheet close to the price: it serves the label image, the nested arrow and the information sheet from the model's registration number. The natural circuit is therefore: the supplier passes on the registration number, you store it as an attribute, and your channels consume the rest automatically.
| Requirement | PIM attribute | Where the data comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Link to the public product page | eprel_registration_number | Supplier, QR code on the label, search in the public database |
| Display of the class (Art. 5 and 6) | energy_class, class_range | Supplier's label, checked against EPREL |
| Label and nested arrow | energy_label_media, arrow_media | EPREL public API, or files supplied by the supplier |
| Product information sheet | information_sheet_url | EPREL database, per published language |
| Applicable scope | eprel_category, eprel_applicable | Product family, corresponding delegated regulation |
Points to watch for distributors
- The number must match the exact variant. Models differ by capacity, finish or colour, and each has its own registration. A clean variant model is the condition for the right number to go out on the right product page.
- Old and new scales coexist in stock. Categories moved to the A-G scale on different dates — March 2021 for several families, July 2025 for tumble dryers. The class attribute must therefore carry the scale, not just the letter.
- Advertising counts too. Article 6 covers visual advertisements and technical promotional material: a banner or a category page showing a price without the arrow is caught in the same way as a product page.
- Importing from outside the EU changes your role. A dealer importing directly from a non-European manufacturer becomes a supplier within the meaning of the regulation, with the registration duty of Article 4.
EPREL and the digital product passport
The comparison is tempting, but the two arrangements remain distinct: EPREL comes under Regulation 2017/1369 on energy labelling, the digital product passport under Ecodesign Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, which does not amend the former. What they share is an architecture: a unique identifier, a data carrier on the product, a European registry, differentiated access rights. The habits you build for EPREL — storing an identifier per variant, consuming an official source rather than copying it, checking before publication — are exactly the ones the passport will demand.
Frequently asked questions
Is displaying the label image on the product page enough?
No. The annexes of the delegated regulations require the label and the product information sheet, both in proximity to the price, with constraints on size and display sequence. Nested display is allowed, but the arrow that gives access to it must carry the class in a font size equivalent to that of the price, and the information sheet must appear on the first click.
What if the supplier does not pass on the registration number?
It can be found: the QR code on the label points to the model's page in the public part of the database, and a search in that public part works for categories without a QR code. But catching up product by product does not scale: the right place to obtain it remains the onboarding questionnaire, alongside the EAN.
Must a vacuum cleaner still show an energy class?
No. The delegated regulation that created that label was annulled by the General Court of the European Union on 8 November 2018, and the Commission states that these products no longer have an energy label. The ecodesign requirements do remain. If your vacuum cleaner pages still carry a class inherited from an old import, that is data to purge.
Do marketplaces handle the display for me?
They provide the fields, not the data. The regulation targets the dealer making the offer available: it is up to you to pass the registration number, the class and the range in the feed, and to check that the rendering respects the display constraints. A standardised attribute in the repository, mapped once per channel, saves redoing this work every time a marketplace is opened — which is what the Compliance module in Pixee PIM handles alongside the REACH, RoHS, CE and WEEE attributes.
Bring the EPREL registration number into your catalogue
EPREL attribute per variant, structured class and scale, distribution to every sales channel.
See the Compliance module