EPA No Fan of Lifting Energy Star 3rd-Party Certifications, Agency Official Says
A Senate measure that would rescind Energy Star’s third-party certification requirement for consumer tech manufacturers that are in good standing with the program for at least 18 months would hurt the program, an Environment Protection Agency official said. The Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016 (S-2012), which cleared the Senate April 20 by an 85-12 vote, gives EPA authority instead to require “that test data and other product information be submitted to facilitate product listing and performance verification for a sample of products,” the legislation says (here).
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The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) hailed the S-2012 provision lifting the third-party certification requirement as “a vital and long-awaited update” to Energy Star that frees consumer tech companies “with a demonstrated track record of compliance from the cost burdens and time delays of adhering to arbitrary, pre-market requirements.” But EPA stands by its 2011 decision imposing third-party certifications as a rule after a blistering March 2010 GAO report in which agents went undercover and found Energy Star product self-certifications were vulnerable to fraud and abuse, Kathleen Vokes, an EPA official who heads Energy Star certifications, said in an email.
EPA believes the third-party certification rule “dramatically reduced the potential for fraud and is important to preserving consumer confidence in the ENERGY STAR label,” Vokes told us. “Prior to third-party certification, manufacturers self-certified products and were responsible for their own claims," she said. "Third party certification takes advantage of a long-standing certification infrastructure that relies on international standards for accreditation of certification bodies, who independently review performance data from laboratories recognized by EPA for purposes of ENERGY STAR testing.”