APEC Compliance Workshop Facilitates Dialogue and Collaboration on MV&E in the Asia-Pacific Region

11 Jul 2012

Compliance Climate Labeling Standards Testing

On June 14-15, 2012, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Expert Group on Energy Efficiency and Conservation (APEC EGEE&C) organized a two-day compliance workshop in Beijing, China. The conference aimed to provide stakeholders in APEC economies an opportunity to share international best practices on monitoring, verification and enforcement (MV&E) and to facilitate collaboration between governments and industry.

APEC Compliance Workshop

Steven Zeng, China Program Director at CLASP, and Simone Tiele, Assistant Director of Australian Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. Panel on laboratory capacity and competency in the APEC region.

The workshop convened 80 participants from the Asia-Pacific region, including representatives from APEC economies, governments participating in the Barrier Removal to the Cost-Effective Development and Implementation of Energy Efficiency (BRESL), major appliance manufacturers, accreditation bodies, testing facilities, and international MV&E experts.

Maximizing compliance for appliances and equipment is high on the agenda of the 18 APEC economies which operate a total of 32 energy labeling and 16 minimum energy efficiency standards programs. Market characteristics in the APEC region vary significantly by economy. Some boast the world’s largest manufacturers to the global market, while others rely on imported products.

In the workshop’s opening ceremony, Zhang Xin, Vice Director of Resources and Environment at the China National Institute of Standardization (CNIS), expressed the significance of hosting the Compliance Workshop in China, the world’s foremost exporter of energy consuming appliances. Zhang Xin emphasized the immense benefits of improved market compliance to both China and the Asia-Pacific region overall.

The first day’s agenda focused on the results of the 2012 APEC Market Compliance Survey Report, which evaluated compliance activities and capacities in each APEC economy. According to the survey, common challenges in the region include lack of laboratory capacity, barriers to publicizing monitoring results, and limited information-sharing on compliance mechanisms between governments.

The second day focused on developing dialogue between government and industry stakeholders on minimizing business risks, building laboratory capacity, introducing successful certification schemes, and increasing regional collaboration.

Policy makers acknowledged that, due to the diversity of economies within the APEC region, there is no “one size fits all” approach for achieving higher rates of compliance. However, many expressed commitments to the policy recommendations that emerged from the workshop, which included:

Making risks of non-compliance obvious and accessible to stakeholders in S&L programs through increased communication and raising the profile of MV&E activities and results;
Using cooperative and creative approaches in order to minimize the cost of testing. For instance, two technically equivalent economies could adopt mutual recognition of test reports;
Engaging with industry participants to develop effective MV&E approaches, such as industry certification schemes; and
Developing a regional MV&E network, similar to Europe’s model, through the APEC EGEE&C working group or other regional bodies.

The APEC Compliance Workshop was hosted by CNIS and supported by the Australian government, CLASP, and the International Copper Association.

The workshop agenda, presentations, and the APEC Market Compliance Survey Report are available for download below.

Workshop agenda

Workshop Presentations

Day 1:

Day 2: