Today, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications Juhan Parts signed a regulation “The Form and Authorization Procedure of the Energy-performance Label”, which allows the buyer or tenant of the building to demand an energy-performance label from the seller, giving the summary of energy expenses. 

The goal of the energy-performance label that is being introduced from January 1st 2008 is to provide the buyers or tenants of the building or a flat with information about the condition of the building, concerning the energy consumption. With the help of the energy-performance label it will be possible to compare the use of energy with other similar buildings; the label also gives information on how to reduce energy consumption in the particular building. The energy-performance label reflects the use of power needed in the building for heating, cooling, making hot water, ventilation, illumination and for all the electrical devices. According to the Estonian legislation, the energy-performance label would not be automatically compulsory from the beginning of the following year but the buyer or tenant has a right to demand it from the seller of the house. The lack of energy-performance label is risky for the buyer or tenant: if the consumer has not been interested in the label, but finds out later that the energy expenses are bigger than expected, the options for contesting the transaction are more limited.

Issuing energy-performance label is allowed in Estonia for the entrepreneurs that comply with the requirements of the Building Act – the design-bureaus for the buildings that are under design, entrepreneurs performing energy audits for already existing buildings or entrepreneurs issuing energy-performance labels. Until January 1st 2010 the energy-performance labels can also be issued by entrepreneurs performing evaluations of construction works. The training sessions for above-mentioned specialists have taken place since spring this year.

The requirement for energy-performance label does not apply for the buildings that are monuments according to the Heritage Conservation Act, as their nature and appearance would be considerably changed due to fulfilling the minimum energy-efficiency demands. Neither does the regulation apply to the places of worship, to the buildings with service life up to two years, to industrial buildings, workshops and agricultural buildings with low energy need and without living premises; to buildings that are used for accommodation less than four months per year and to buildings with usable floor space less than 50 m2.

Information about the building’s energy-performance label will be published in the register of construction works.