CLC/TR 50727:2022

Material efficiency - Household and similar electrical appliances - Assessment of applicability of EN 4555X

This document summarises the observations on the EN 4555X series of standards in view to applying them to household and similar electrical appliances Scope This document assesses the applicability of the EN 45552 – EN 45559 to household and similar electrical appliances that are in the scope of ecodesign (2009/125/EC). Note: EN 45552, EN 45553, EN 45554, EN 45555, EN 45556, EN 45557, EN 45558 and EN 45559 are referred to as EN 4555X series of standards to increase readability. This document will highlight where further work on metrics and measurement methodologies is necessary or may be needed for household and similar electrical appliances beyond each of the EN 4555X standards listed in Clause 5.

Materialeffizienz - Elektrische Geräte für den Hausgebrauch und ähnliche Zwecke - Bewertung der Anwendbarkeit von EN 4555X

Efficience matérielle - Appareils électriques ménagers et analogues - Évaluation de l'applicabilité de las normes EN 4555X

Gospodinjski in podobni električni aparati - Učinkovitost materiala - Ocena uporabnosti EN 4555X

Ta dokument povzema opažanja o skupini standardov EN 4555X z namenom njihove uporabe za gospodinjske in podobne električne aparate.
Področje uporabe
Ta dokument ocenjuje uporabnost standardov EN 45552–EN 45559 za gospodinjske in podobne električne aparate, ki so predmet okoljsko primerne zasnove (2009/125/ES).
Opomba: Standardi EN 45552, EN 45553, EN 45554, EN 45555, EN 45556, EN 45557, EN 45558 in EN 45559 se zaradi lažje berljivosti obravnavajo kot skupina standardov EN 4555X.
Ta dokument izpostavlja področja, na katerih je potrebno oziroma bi lahko bilo potrebno nadaljnje delo na metrikah in metodologiji merjenja za gospodinjske in podobne električne aparate, ki niso zajeti v posameznih standardih skupine EN 4555X, navedenih v točki 5.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 14-Apr-2022
• ICS: 13.020.20 - Environmental economics. Sustainability
• ICS: 97.030 - Domestic electrical appliances in general
• Technical Committee: CLC/TC 59X - Consumer information related to household electrical appliances
• Drafting Committee: CLC/TC 59X/WG 23 - Resource efficiency
• Current Stage: 6060 - Document made available - Publishing
• Start Date: 15-Apr-2022
• Due Date: 27-Apr-2023
• Completion Date: 15-Apr-2022
• Ref Project: SIST-TP CLC/TR 50727:2022 - Household and similar electrical appliances - Material Efficiency - Assessment of applicability of EN 4555X

Overview

CLC/TR 50727:2022 assesses how the horizontal EN 4555X series of material-efficiency standards can be applied to household and similar electrical appliances (products in scope of Ecodesign 2009/125/EC). It summarises CLC/TC 59X observations, highlights where product‑ or product‑group specific adaptations are needed, and identifies gaps in metrics and measurement methodology for aspects such as durability, reparability, remanufacture, recyclability, reused/recycled content and critical raw materials.

Key topics and requirements

• Purpose: adapt the EN 4555X horizontal methods to appliance-specific contexts rather than apply them verbatim.
• Scope coverage: EN 45552–EN 45559 (referred to as EN 4555X), addressing durability, remanufacture, repair/reuse/upgrade, recyclability/recoverability, reused components, recycled material content, critical raw materials and information provision.
• Main technical considerations:
  • Durability (EN 45552): assess using reliability and reparability; define “limiting state” (distinguish reversible vs non‑reversible) and consider multifunctional products.
  • Remanufacture (EN 45553) and Repair/Reuse/Upgrade (EN 45554): require product‑group specific adaptations; set priority parts, appropriate criteria (tools, skills, spare parts), and clarify terms such as “interface” and “standard part”.
  • Recyclability (EN 45555): create End‑of‑Life (EoL) treatment scenarios (use WEEE categories and EN 50625/WEEE data); decide whether to calculate recyclability by product mass or by specific material mass.
  • Reused components (EN 45556) and Recycled material content (EN 45557): EN 45556 needs adaptation; EN 45557 is generally applicable but requires agreed scope and definitions (e.g., “same process”) and currently lacks a robust physical verification method.
  • Critical raw materials (EN 45558): largely applicable but relevance is product‑specific (batteries, motors, alloys).
  • Information provision (EN 45559): methods to declare material-efficiency aspects; recommendations on data anonymity and use‑meter integrity (to support second‑hand market transparency).
• Measurement quality: emphasizes uncertainty reporting, repeatability and reproducibility (reference: IEC TR 63250) to ensure comparable results across labs.

Applications and users

• Who uses it: product standards committees, appliance manufacturers, ecodesign regulators, test laboratories, recyclers, repair networks, remanufacturers and policy makers.
• Practical uses:
  • Drafting product‑group specific standards that adapt EN 4555X methods.
  • Informing Ecodesign requirements and conformity assessment for household appliances.
  • Guiding design for circularity: improved durability, reparability, recyclability and material traceability.
  • Defining test programs, EoL scenarios and reporting templates for suppliers and third‑party labs.

Related standards

• EN 45552–EN 45559 (EN 4555X series)
• CLC/TR 45550 (definitions related to material efficiency)
• IEC TR 63250 (repeatability, reproducibility, uncertainty for appliance tests)
• EN 50625 / WEEE treatment standards (EoL processes and categories)

Keywords: material efficiency, household appliances, EN 4555X, ecodesign, durability, reparability, recyclability, recycled content, critical raw materials, WEEE.

Standards Content (Sample)

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-julij-2022
Gospodinjski in podobni električni aparati - Učinkovitost materiala - Ocena
uporabnosti EN 4555X
Household and similar electrical appliances - Material Efficiency - Assessment of
applicability of EN 4555X
Elektrische Geräte für den Hausgebrauch und ähnliche Zwecke - Materialeffizienz -
Bewertung der Anwendbarkeit von EN 4555X
Appareils électriques ménagers et analogues - Efficience matérielle- Évaluation de
l'applicabilité de las normes EN 4555X
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: CLC/TR 50727:2022
ICS:
13.020.20 Okoljska ekonomija. Environmental economics.
Trajnostnost Sustainability
97.030 Električni aparati za dom na Domestic electrical
splošno appliances in general
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

TECHNICAL REPORT CLC/TR 50727

RAPPORT TECHNIQUE
TECHNISCHER BERICHT April 2022
ICS 13.020.20; 97.030
English Version
Material efficiency - Household and similar electrical appliances -
Assessment of applicability of EN 4555X
Efficience matérielle - Appareils électriques ménagers et Materialeffizienz - Elektrische Geräte für den Hausgebrauch
analogues - Évaluation de l'applicabilité de las normes EN und ähnliche Zwecke - Bewertung der Anwendbarkeit von
4555X EN 4555X
This Technical Report was approved by CENELEC on 2022-04-11.

CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Turkey and the United Kingdom.

European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2022 CENELEC All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC Members.
Ref. No. CLC/TR 50727:2022 E
Contents Page
European foreword . 3
Introduction . 4
1 Scope . 5
2 Normative references . 5
3 Terms and definitions . 5
4 General considerations . 5
5 Special considerations for applying the EN 4555X series of standards to household and
similar electrical appliances . 6
5.1 EN 45552 - General method for the assessment of the durability of energy-related products
........................................................................................................................................................ 6
5.2 EN 45553 - General method for the assessment of the ability to remanufacture energy-
related products . 6
5.3 EN 45554 - General methods for the assessment of the ability to repair, reuse and upgrade
energy-related products . 6
5.4 EN 45555 - General methods for assessing the recyclability and recoverability of energy-
related products . 7
5.5 EN 45556 - General method for assessing the proportion of reused components in energy-
related products . 8
5.6 EN 45557 - General method for assessing the proportion of recycled material content in
energy-related products . 8
5.7 EN 45558 - General method to declare the use of critical raw materials in energy-related
products. 8
5.8 EN 45559 - Methods for providing information relating to material efficiency aspects of
energy-related product . 9
6 Summary of applicability . 9
Bibliography .10

European foreword
This document (CLC/TR 50727:2022) has been prepared by CLC/TC 59X “Performance of household and
similar electrical appliances”.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. CENELEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national committee. A complete
listing of these bodies can be found on the CENELEC website.
Introduction
Material efficiency is one building block of a circular economy. To increase the material efficiency of products,
different aspects like durability, reparability, reusability, remanufacturability, recyclability and recycled materials
content need to be assessed. The horizontal standards of the EN 4555X series provide general methodologies
to assess different material efficiency aspects of energy-related products. These horizontal documents need to
be adapted in order to be applicable for specific products / product groups.
1 Scope
This document summarizes the observations of CLC/TC 59X on the EN 4555X series of standards in view to
applying them to household and similar electrical appliances.
This document assesses the applicability of EN 45552 – EN 45559 to household and similar electrical
appliances that are in the scope of Ecodesign (2009/125/EC).
NOTE EN 45552, EN 45553, EN 45554, EN 45555, EN 45556, EN 45557, EN 45558 and EN 45559 are referred to as
the EN 4555X series of standards to increase readability.
This document highlights where further work on metrics and measurement methodologies is necessary or may
be needed for household and similar electrical appliances beyond each of the EN 4555X series of standards
listed in Clause 5.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes
requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the
latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
CLC/TR 45550, Definitions related to material efficiency
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in CLC/TR 45550 apply. In the absence of a
definition in CLC/TR 45550, the user of this document may refer to the following sources:
— IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
4 General considerations
The considerations on applying the EN 4555X series of standards to household and similar electrical appliances
were developed using the following methodology:
— The respective standards were checked for normative requirements;
— The normative requirements were discussed in light of applicability to household and similar electrical
appliances;
— The need for generic adaptation and product specific adaptation were identified;
— For EN 45554:2020, reparability were taken as a proxy for the considerations presented in 5.3. These
considerations apply to reusability and upgradeability, too.
EXAMPLE:
It is advised to use the same approach to further refine the observations for product specific standards. It is
further advised to use the existing structure in the EN 4555X series of standards when developing product
specific documents.
A general observation is that the EN 4555X series of standards, excluding EN 45557, EN 45558 and EN 45559,
are not directly applicable and need an adaptation in the form of a product/product group specific standard.
Uncertainty reporting is essential to ensure measured or assessed data are interpreted correctly. Especially
when data of measurements or assessments are to be compared between laboratories or when normative
requirements are set up, it is necessary to know the uncertainty with which data can be measured or assessed.
NOTE IEC TR 63250 “HOUSEHOLD AND SIMILAR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES – METHOD FOR MEASURING
PERFORMANCE – ASSESSMENT OF REPEATABILITY, REPRODUCIBILITY AND UNCERTAINTY” deals with the
determination of repeatability and reproducibility of test methods used for assessing the performance characteristics of
household and similar electrical appliances. It also provides guidance for carrying out round robin tests. It also specifies the
uncertainty reporting of measurements of household and similar electrical appliances. It describes methods to estimate the
uncertainty of a measured result and to predict the range of measured values when the same appliance is measured in
another laboratory applying the same measurement method.
A test method, where applicable, needs to ensure reproducible results, using e.g. IEC TR 63250.
5 Special considerations for applying the EN 4555X series of standards to
household and similar electrical appliances
5.1 EN 45552 - General method for the assessment of the durability of energy-related
products
EN 45552 is not directly applicable. An adaptation in the form of a product/product group specific standard for
every product/product group is needed. Consideration will also need to be given to different technologies used
in a single product category.
The general method to assess the durability of an energy-related product should be used for household and
similar electrical appliances. However, some amendments are needed when drafting standards for these
appliances:
— It is recommended to base the assessment of the durability of a product on its reliability and its reparability
related to this durability assessment.
— When defining limiting states, all main/primary functions should be equally considered for multifunctional
products.
— It is recommended to work on the definition/concept of limiting state. A clear distinction between reversible
and non-reversible limiting state is advisable.
5.2 EN 45553 - General method for the assessment of the ability to remanufacture energy-
related products
EN 45553 is not directly applicable. An adaptation is needed of the general method to assess the ability of
remanufacturing an energy-related product in the form of a product/product group specific standard for every
household and similar electrical appliance product/product group.
5.3 EN 45554 - General methods for the assessment of the ability to repair, reuse and
upgrade energy-related products
EN 45554
...