Dyson Lose Energy Label Battle

Vacuum cleaner manufacturer Dyson has been unsuccessful in its bid to change European laws on energy labels.

The company has been vocal in its discontent surrounding the EU legislation since its introduction last year, and founder Sir James Dyson had argued that the laws were based on misleading tests, as vacuum cleaners were only tested when they were empty of dust.

He claimed that this misled ‘consumers on the real environmental impact of the machine they are buying’.

However, the EU’s General Court has dismissed Dyson’s action ‘in its entirety’ because of a failure from the Wiltshire-based company to show that there were more reliable and accurate tests on offer.

In a statement, it said: “Dyson states that the regulation misleads consumers because the cleaning performance is tested only when the vacuum cleaner’s receptacle is empty and not during use.

“The court acknowledges that the suction performance and energy efficiency of a vacuum cleaner with a dust-loaded receptacle will be reduced due to dust accumulation.

“It observes, however, that the Commission could not use tests conducted on the basis of a dust-loaded receptacle, as they are not reliable, accurate and reproducible, as required by the regulation.”

The court also went on to dismiss further claims from Dyson that the existing EU energy labelling laws ‘discriminate’ in favour of bagged cleaners.

Following the announcement, a spokeswoman from Dyson described the verdict as ‘deplorable’, saying that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) “endorses tests that don’t attempt to represent in-home use.”

The company went on to say: “By this judgement, the ECJ has given its support to unrepresentative tests devised by the Commission with a small group of European manufacturers which in our view disregards the interests of consumers in Europe.

“The judgement is all the more surprising in view of the revelations about car testing in the VW scandal where the tests do not reflect real life usage.

“We don’t believe the ECJ is acting in the interests of consumers and will continue to fight for testing and labelling, which is.”