This will change on 1 March: different energy labels and closed station counters
Anyone who buys a new electrical appliance from 1 March will have to get used to the renewed energy labels. Train passengers will be able to buy a ticket in fewer stations.
New energy labels
The well-known energy labels will be given a makeover: the rankings that ran from A +++ to D up to now will be revised and simplified. It will be replaced by a classification that runs from A to G. The color code from green to red will remain. No device immediately receives the A label. This is reserved for appliances that will deliver higher energy performance in the future than what is on the market today. As the criteria become stricter, a class A +++ refrigerator may end up in class B or C after 1 March.
The new energy labels will be phased in, but by March 1 they should already apply to household washing machines and washer-dryers (not for dryers), TVs and computer screens, fridges and freezers and household dishwashers. On September 1, electric lamps will also fall under the new label, the other categories of appliances will follow at a later stage.
A transition period will run until the end of November, during which the old and new labels will circulate together.
• No device is worth an A.
NMBS closes ticket offices
From 1 March, the NMBS will gradually close the ticket offices in 44 stations, while the opening hours of the ticket offices will be adjusted in 37 other stations. After criticism of the railway company’s announcement came from various quarters, NMBS CEO Sophie Dutordoir and Mobility Minister Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) announced that a number of accompanying measures would be ‘clarified or improved’.
The final closure is planned for the end of this year. There will be a transition period from 1 March until then, during which the counters will remain open two or three days a week. From March onwards, stewards will help people in those stations to buy a ticket from the machines.
• NMBS stands firm, its targeted counters close
German at the helm of Brussels Airlines
The German Peter Gerber will be the new CEO of the airline Brussels Airlines from 1 March. He succeeds the Belgian Dieter Vranckx, who moved to the Swiss sister company Swiss.
Peter Gerber, in his fifties, comes over from Lufthansa Cargo. He will also assume the new position of ‘Lufthansa Group Chief Representative for European Affairs’ in Brussels. It is about representing the group interests at European level.
• Brussels Airlines gets a German captain again