No De-Labeling Needed Following Energy Star Changes, EPA Says
As the EPA set new qualification rules for Energy Star (CED April 15 p2), the agency clarified that manufacturers need not remove labels from products or product literature for products made on or after March 30. But device makers must produce lab reports with “qualification information” to the EPA for approval, the agency said in a communication to Energy Star stakeholders Wednesday.
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After the release of a Government Accountability Office report that concluded that Energy Star was prone to fraud and abuse, the agency temporarily suspended product qualification (CED April 2 p6). The agency also barred manufacturers from using the Energy Star label on products, websites and product literature without agency approval of manufacturers’ “qualifying product information, including a lab report.” The EPA said Wednesday it’s resuming product qualification with the “expectation that qualification systems will be fully up and running by Friday."
The move to shut down qualification created “turmoil” in the industry, said a CE executive. The EPA could have avoided that by “careful coordination with Energy Star partners,” he said. The EPA said it regretted the inconvenience to manufacturers, but the action was needed to “preserve the integrity of the brand.” New Energy Star partners won’t have access to the label upon joining the program, the agency said. “Going forward, the Energy Star mark will be made available to partners only after a qualifying product is submitted and approved."
Manufacturers using a “qualified product information” form or the online product submittal system must furnish a lab report that “demonstrates their product meets the Energy Star requirements,” the agency told stakeholders. “To expedite review and ensure that basic information is included with these lab reports, EPA is also distributing a lab report cover sheet that requires declaration of status of lab, testing conditions, and a signature of the lab technician completing the test and a witness."
For now, lab reports need not come from accredited or third-party labs, but accredited lab reports will be a must by the end of the year for all products seeking the Energy Star label, the agency said. The industry continues to have concerns about rules for testing in accredited labs, “given that not all companies have in-house labs,” said Douglas Johnson, CEA senior director of technology policy. “A requirement to do testing only by accredited labs could mean for a number of companies increased costs and potential delays in the process of getting products to market.”
Self-certification has worked “extremely well” for the CE sector, “not only in the area of energy efficiency but in other regulatory realms” as well, Johnson said. The EPA’s statistics show there has been no Energy Star compliance problems with CE products, he said. “Certainly everybody recognizes that testing by accredited labs is less onerous than a requirement for third-party certification for Energy Star compliance, but that doesn’t mean testing by accredited labs is the best option.”