On 19 June 2018, the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU) 2018/844 was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, following its formal approval by the Parliament on 17 April 2018 and by the Council of Ministers on 14 May 2018.

The directive will come into effect on 9 July 2018 and Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 10 March 2020.

This is the first of the 8 legislative acts in the Clean Energy for All Europeans package to be adopted.

Overall, the new Directive includes measures which will speed-up the rate of building renovation towards more energy efficient systems and build-up the energy performance of new buildings, making them smarter.

The revised EPBD also includes (Article 19a) the Commission’s requirement to perform a feasibility study. More specifically, it states:

“The Commission shall, before 2020, conclude a feasibility study, clarifying the possibilities and timeline to introduce the inspection of stand-alone ventilation systems and an optional building renovation passport that is complementary to the energy performance certificates, in order to provide a long-term, step-by-step renovation roadmap for a specific building based on quality criteria, following an energy audit, and outlining relevant measures and renovations that could improve the energy performance.”