European court rejects Dyson action on vaccum cleaners

Sir James Dyson suffered a major reverse in his fight against EU energy labelling rules  after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said, it "dismisses Dyson's action in its entirety" as the company had failed to show there were more reliable and accurate tests.

Sir James had approached the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg, claiming that a system of efficiency labels deceived customers as they were conducted when the devices were in ''pristine'' condition in laboratories, which gave a major advantage to his rivals.

Sir James' innovative cylindrical vacuum cleaner was marketed on the basis of the fact that it did not lose suction as it filled up with household dirt, unlike devices that use a bag.

It meant the European Commission's regime could ''mislead consumers on the real environmental impact'' of the machine they are buying, Sir James said.

"By this judgment, 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".

Even as it accepted that the testing regime was flawed, saying ''the suction performance and energy efficiency of a vacuum cleaner with a dust-loaded receptacle will be reduced due to dust accumulation'', it threw out the case, pointing out that Dyson could not come up with an alternative test that would be ''reliable, accurate and reproducible''.

The court also ruled out Dyson's claim that the current regulations discriminated in favour of bagged vacuum cleaners.

Following the ruling, a Dyson spokeswoman said, "It is deplorable that the European Court of Justice endorses tests that don't attempt to represent in-home use, and we believe this is causing consumers to be misled.

"By this judgment, 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 judgment 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."