History of the Voluntary Agreement

The Games Consoles UK Voluntary Agreement v1.1, including minor technical amendments, was presented and adopted at the UK Steering Committee meeting in January.

The Games Consoles EU Voluntary Agreement v4.1, including minor technical amendments, was presented and adopted at the EU Steering Committee meeting in December.

The Games Consoles EU Voluntary Agreement v4.0, which includes revisions in response to stakeholder feedback from the post-2020 Consultation Forum meeting, was adopted and presented at the June Steering Committee meeting.

The Games Consoles UK Voluntary Agreement v1.0 was presented and adopted at the November UK Steering Committee meeting, which resulted in the official recognition by the UK Government.

The Signatories performed the 3rd review of the EU VA, prior to announcing the launch of new generation consoles by 2 manufacturers. The Games Consoles EU Voluntary Agreement v3.9.4 was presented at the December Consultation Forum meeting.

The Signatories performed the 2nd review of the EU VA, in parallel with the “Videogame Consoles Review Study” conducted by the independent consultants of the European Commission. The Games Consoles EU Voluntary Agreement v2.7 was presented at the December Consultation Forum meeting.

The Games Consoles EU Voluntary Agreement v2.6 was presented at the June Steering Committee meeting. Minor edits were approved at the Steering Committee meeting in November which resulted in the adoption of version 2.6.3.

A technical review procedure of the EU Voluntary Agreement took place in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the VA in achieving its energy efficiency objectives, evaluate current and future developments that may influence games consoles power consumption and set future targets, as appropriate, to increase games consoles energy efficiency. Moreover, the VA was aligned with the final Commission guidelines for self-regulation measures. The Games Consoles EU Voluntary Agreement v2.5 was presented at the November Consultation Forum meeting.

Games consoles manufacturers began implementing the product reporting requirements of the Voluntary Agreement. Minor, clarifying amendments (e.g. grammatical and formatting mistakes, clarification of some data collection procedures) were made to the VA in response to comments received at the June Steering Committee meeting from stakeholders and the Independent Inspector. A revised version of the Games Consoles Voluntary Agreement was approved by the Commission.

On April 22, the Commission formally approved the Games Consoles EU Voluntary Agreement v1.0. The
Commission’s decision confirmed that the VA would achieve the policy objectives set out by the EU's
Ecodesign Directive more quickly and be more cost effective than mandatory requirements. The first Steering
Committee meeting was held in Brussels in December.

Games consoles manufacturers amended the Voluntary Agreement to take into account the Commission's
revised draft guidelines on self-regulation measures to address comments received during the
Consultation Forum meeting and subsequent comments from the Commission.

A study analysing the potential energy savings of the GCVA conducted by one of the signatories highlighted that the VA could result in potential energy savings of up to 1 TWh per year by 2020. At the request of the Commission, the console manufacturers added further commitments on material efficiency to their draft VA. The draft VA was subject to internal review by the Commission's Impact Assessment Board, which issued a favourable opinion in March.

The first draft of the GCVA was presented and discussed in November at a meeting of the Consultation Forum, which included representatives of the Commission, Member States, and non-governmental organisations.

In the context of its preparatory study, the Commission included a voluntary agreement as a possible policy option. Following consultations with stakeholders and policy-makers, the console manufacturers commenced work on drafting the GCVA

The European Commission initiated a preparatory study (ENTR Lot 3: Sound and Imaging Equipment) to investigate the energy efficiency of games consoles and their potential for improvement.