At the end of the year the Official Journal of the European Union will publish the new Energy Efficiency Directive, which will oblige Member States, on the one hand, to set mandatory national energy efficiency targets, and on the other hand to establish regulations affecting multiple eco- nomic sectors and actors. The reason behind the regulatory initiative of the Commission is that of the 20-20-20 targets of the EU, the 20% primary energy savings goal, as forecasted in 2007, is unlikely to be met based on the present trajec- tory of energy use (that is, considering already adopted measures), and actual savings are likely to be less than 10% by 2020. The new Directive, therefore, should in principle generate primary energy savings of about 200 Mtoe. The national targets of primary or final energy consumption, expressed in absolute values, to be submitted by the Member States by 30 April 2013, will be summed by the European Commission, and if the total does not meet the 2020 energy use target of the Community (1474 Mtoe), then the Commission may adjust the proposed national figures. Besides the requirements of the EU, in our article we also describe the instruments that can be used for compliance.