The paper provides further evidence supporting AMDEA’s call for household washing machines, washer-dryers and dishwashers to be excluded from the proposed UK Mandatory Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme.
AMDEA has published a detailed position paper on the proposed inclusion of household washing machines, washer-dryers and dishwashers within the Mandatory Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme, known as MWELS.
The publication follows AMDEA’s correspondence with the Defra Minister for Water and Flooding and its earlier media activity highlighting the potential costs and consumer confusion associated with the proposals. These concerns were also set out in AMDEA’s April 2026 press release.
The new paper develops those points in greater detail, bringing together the consumer, technical, legislative and practical evidence supporting AMDEA’s position.
AMDEA supports effective water demand management and clear, reliable consumer information. Its concern is specific to wet appliances, which already display regulated water consumption information through mandatory energy labels.
The paper argues that MWELS would not fill an information gap for these products. Instead, it would introduce a second statutory labelling system, with an additional water efficiency classification and litres-per-cycle figure. It examines the resulting risk of consumer confusion, duplication of existing requirements, unresolved calculation and testing questions, and the implications of applying the requirements in Great Britain but not Northern Ireland.
The paper has been provided to officials as a constructive, evidence-based contribution while the policy continues to be developed. A copy is also being provided to the Defra Minister and will be shared with other relevant Government departments, public bodies, trade associations and wider stakeholders.
AMDEA is asking Government to remove household washing machines, washer-dryers and dishwashers from the scope of MWELS before the Regulations are laid. If Government proposes to retain them, AMDEA considers that it should first publish the complete product-specific evidence and justification for doing so.