Europe Defers Halogen Lamp Ban Until 2018

The European Commission(EU) has voted to delay the phase-out until 2018, after previously committing to withdraw the standard pear-shaped “GLS” halogen lamp from European markets by 2016.

Halogen lamps are only slightly more efficient than conventional filament bulbs and are highly inefficient compared with the best modern LED and compact fluorescent (CFL) lamps. This is why in 2009 the EC scheduled them for a September 2016 retirement. Traditional incandescent lamp bulbs are already banned from sale within the EU.

LightingEurope, representing leading European lighting manufacturers, national lighting associations and companies producing materials, had originally lobbied the EU to postpone the halogen phase-out until 2020, which would give the LED lighting industry greater time to develop more affordable replacements for halogen lamps.

LightingEurope did this because it had claimed that the quality, performance and price of LED lamps would not be ready to meet mass consumer demand until 2020. However, the EC says that the 2018 deadline is an acceptable compromise.

Commented LightingEurope’s Secretary General, Diederik de Stoppelaar, “The industry strongly supports — and has for years — the changeover to more energy efficient lighting solutions. “While 2020 was the ideal date for a phase-out of the popular domestic halogens, 2018 is an acceptable compromise. What consumers must understand is that alternative developing technologies take time to be fully realised – and then to subsequently be widely available on the market,” he said.