France may extend a system aimed at encouraging people to buy more fuel-efficient cars to products such as electronics, Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo told business daily Les Echos.
The so-called "bonus-malus" system, based on a structure that exists in the insurance industry, offers a rebate to consumers who buy fuel-efficient vehicles and charges an extra levy on more petrol-guzzling cars.
Borloo said the measure, introduced last year, had pushed sales of fuel-efficient cars up by 45 percent, while cutting sales of heavy petrol users by 40 percent.
"This measure has created an electric shock," he told Thursday's edition of the newspaper.
"If we impose such a system on electronics equipment, consumers will be tempted to switch quickly to less energy-hungry devices," he said.
He said he would propose extending the system to cover around 20 products from 2009.