DOE to Hold Public Meeting on New ACE Filing Requirements for Energy Efficiency Standards

The Department of Energy will extend the comments deadline to Feb. 29 on a proposal that would require importers of products covered under “an applicable energy conservation standard” to file a “certification of admissibility” for each shipment of such products before their arrival at a U.S. port of entry, it said (here). The proposed rule would require the filing in the Automated Commercial Environment at time of entry (see 1512290020). DOE also granted a request to hold a public meeting to explain the proposal before comments are due, said a prepublication Federal Register notice released by the agency. That meeting will be Feb. 19, 9:30 a.m., at DOE headquarters, 10 days before comments are due, the notice said. The meeting also will be webcast, it said. Trade groups, including the Consumer Technology Association and Plumbing Manufacturers International recently said in a joint filing (here) that they're genuinely "confused" with the proposal because it “does little to explain the specific issue the Department is attempting to resolve with the proposed import data collection.” The groups had asked DOE to extend the comments deadline until 30 days after the meeting date.