APEC Workshop Facilitates Collaboration on Compliance Best Practices Sharing in Asia-Pacific Region

In October 2014, policymakers and market surveillance authorities in the Asia-Pacific region gathered in Beijing for a one-day Compliance Best Practices Workshop to share best practices on compliance testing and to spearhead regional collaboration on compliance efforts.

The workshop was organized by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Expert Group on Energy Efficiency and Conservation (APEC EGEE&C) and supported by the Australian Department of Industry, New Zealand’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, the Copper Alliance, UL, and CLASP.

At the previous Compliance Workshop in 2012, many policymakers identified that testing is a common challenge for compliance in the APEC region. Compliance testing is one of the most fundamental aspects of a compliance framework. It is critical to ensuring that the expected energy savings from appliance energy efficiency programs are achieved. However, in many cases, compliance testing of appliances is also one of the most challenging and resource-intensive to implement.

The 2014 Workshop aims to overcome this common challenge by conducting compliance testing in a cost-effective and collaborative way. The one-day workshop featured APEC’s recently completed comprehensive Assessment of Verification Testing Capacity in the APEC Region, completed in collaboration with S2E4. The analysis identifies approximately 250 suitable test laboratories located across 19 APEC economies and assess where test facilities can be leveraged for economies without adequate testing capacity. The analysis also examines policy options that economies can take individually or collectively to reduce costs for compliance testing. CLASP and partners, including the Australian Department of Industry, New Zealand’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, Copper Alliance, and UL, presented the analysis at the workshop.

Many expressed interest in launching a pilot regional MV&E effort, which could create a shared compliance intelligence database for signaling products that failed compliance testing, or any other number of activities to strengthen MV&E frameworks in the region.

Workshop presentations

  • Safeguarding benefits of standards & labelling through MV&E: opportunities and challenges (Nicole Kearney, CLASP)
  • Successful regional collaboration: lites.asia – a case study (My Ton, CLASP)
  • Assessment of verification testing capacity in the APEC region (Chris Evans, Project Consultant)
  • Identifying testing options and approaches to reduce costs for verification testing (Chris Evans, Project Consultant)
  • Thailand: Lessons Learned from Verification Testing Scheme in Thailand (Gatenapa Maharattanawong, Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand)
  • Australia & New Zealand’s E3 Program: Sharing testing cost between MV&E authorities(Terry Collins, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, New Zealand)

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