11 January 2003

This information is provided courtesy of Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free on-line information service.

www.law-now.com

European Directive on energy performance of buildings comes
into force in Community law

A new Directive on the energy performance of buildings has
just become part of European Community law. It has to be
implemented into the national law of Member States by 4th
January 2006 but may have some more immediate effects.

The Directive is one of a series of measures being introduced
into Community law to tackle global warming. By improving
the energy efficiency of buildings and promoting building-
integrated renewable energy technologies, the Directive aims
to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide,
released when fossil fuels are burned to deliver electricity
and to provide heating and cooling to buildings. The
Directive has four key elements:

* an energy performance certificate must be shown to
prospective purchasers or tenants each time any new or
existing building is sold or let and to the owner when a
building is first constructed
* new buildings must meet energy efficiency standards and
the energy performance of many existing buildings must be
improved when they undergo major renovation
* the design of many new buildings must take into account
the potential for on-site electricity generation from
renewable sources and the use of other low carbon technologies
* the performance of boilers burning fossil fuels, and of
air conditioning systems, must be regularly inspected.

The Directive is likely to create additional work for
specialist contractors. It is also likely to make energy
performance a real factor in acquisition due diligence and
one which influences property values and building design,
renovation and investment decisions.

To find out more you can access this article
by copying and pasting/clicking on the
following link:
http://www.law-now.com/law-now/press.cfm?id=5074
or go to the Law-Now section of our website
(http://www.law-now.com) and click on "Your latest
information"

To view the text of the new Directive click on the following
Link:
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/dat/2003/l_001/l_00120030104en00650071.pdf .

For any further information please contact or contact Tom
Bainbridge ontom.bainbridge@cmck.com or on
+44 (0)207 367 3174 or Paul Sheridan on paul.sheridan@cmck.com
or +44 (0)207 367 2186.