Energy Star Partners Must ‘Recommit’ to Program by Nov. 30, Says EPA

All manufacturers and private labelers of products now in the Energy Star program must “recommit” by Nov. 30 to “avoid partnership interruption” as third-party testing and certification procedures take effect in January, the EPA said. But retailers, utilities and other program sponsors, and cable, satellite and telecom providers are exempt from “this recommitment effort,” the agency said. It last week released final changes to Energy Star qualification criteria for carrying out third-party certification requirements for product qualification and verification testing.

Starting in January, products can’t be submitted to the EPA for Energy Star qualification, Ann Bailey, chief of the Energy Star Labeling Branch, wrote stakeholders. All new products must be certified by an EPA-recognized certification body before they can be labeled, she said. The EPA has so far recognized seven certification bodies including Underwriters Labs, Intertek, CSA International and the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, she said.

For Energy Star products whose specification changes are “pending or anticipated” in 2011 or 2012, “no product model will be permitted to carry” the Energy Star label after the effective date of the revised specifications unless it’s third-party certified, Bailey said. But makers of these products need not “take any action to maintain” Energy Star qualification status of models already qualified until the revised specification takes effect, she said. “When the revised specification becomes effective, EPA will remove all previously qualified products from the Energy Star Qualified Product list."

As part of changes in the final rules for CE and IT products, the agency said it removed “power overhang” from the draft version 4.2 specification for TVs because the EPA got “conflicting proposals and comments” from stakeholders. The agency will work with stakeholders in the coming months to “define time limits and testing methodology for power overhang,” it said. The agency said it scrubbed changes proposed to “product families” for computers and servers in light of “significant opposition.” To “minimize the disruption to labeling practices,” the EPA has ensured that all rules for the use of Energy Star certification mark for products, packaging and literature are “consistent with existing provisions in the program,” it said.

The EPA will host a stakeholder conference call Nov. 12 to provide details of the new testing and verification procedures, it said.