Distributed at 1:24 p.m. April 14, 2010 LEARN MORE AT energystar.gov ENERGY STAR® is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program helping businesses and individuals fight global warming through superior energy efficiency. Dear ENERGY STAR® Manufacturing Partner or Other Interested Stakeholder: On March 30, 2010, EPA informed you about the acceleration of new ENERGY STAR qualification requirements and temporarily suspended product qualification for most product categories until EPA could revise online and other product qualification systems to meet these new requirements. While EPA regrets inconvenience experienced by some partners, this action was required to preserve the integrity of the brand you have all contributed to building. This week, EPA will resume product qualification for all product categories with the expectation that the qualifications systems will be fully up and running by Friday, April 16, 2010. This letter reiterates new qualification requirements announced initially on March 30, relays steps partners must take to meet these requirements, and explains what partners can expect from EPA regarding product review and posting. Qualification requirements announced: • Products (including product packaging, product literature, Web sites, etc.) may no longer be labeled by manufacturers until qualifying product information, including a lab report, is submitted to and approved by EPA. This policy, which has been in place for certain product categories, such as residential light fixtures and CFLs, is now extended to other product categories. While no labels need be removed from products or product literature, for any product manufactured on or after March 30, 2010, lab reports with other qualification information must be submitted to EPA for qualification approval. • New ENERGY STAR partners will no longer be granted access to the ENERGY STAR mark upon joining the program. Going forward, the ENERGY STAR mark will be made available to partners only after a qualifying product is submitted and approved. Resuming qualification systems - Steps partners must take to qualify products: • When submitting products for qualification using a Qualified Product Information (QPI) form or Online Product Submittal (OPS) system, partners must provide the lab report that demonstrates that their product meets the ENERGY STAR requirements. To expedite review and ensure basic information is included with these lab reports, EPA is also distributing a lab report cover sheet that requires declaration of status of lab, testing conditions, and a signature of the lab technician completing the test and a witness. • Lab reports do not need to come from accredited or third party labs at this time (unless the specification in place already sets this requirement). In the short term, partners are still able to provide a self-tested lab report. ------- Distributed at 1:24 p.m. April 14, 2010 • Partners will attach these completed materials to their QPI submissions or will upload them to OPS if their product category makes use of this online submission tool. • Revised QPI forms have been made available to partners at www.enerqvstar.gov. For applicable product categories, partners must use the new QPI forms for product submissions as of March 30, 2010. Qualification information for products that were submitted to EPA prior to March 30 and are on hold pending a qualification review does not need to be resubmitted with new QPI forms. However, partners do need to submit appropriate lab reports and cover sheet to initiate the EPA review process. EPA review and posting of qualified products: • EPA representatives will review all submissions. We will contact you with any questions regarding your submission. We will notify partners through email that products have been approved. Partners may NOT label products until receiving notification of qualification. • EPA and its representatives will make every effort to promptly review all information submitted. The Agency is committed to devoting all needed resources to the review of product qualifications. • Upon a successful review, EPA will post your product on its appropriate ENERGY STAR qualified product list the next time it is updated. During the coming month, EPA will refresh qualified product lists weekly. While EPA feels swift action was warranted to protect the value and integrity of the ENERGY STAR label, we remain committed to engaging stakeholders to ensure our implementation of these changes is as effective as possible, with minimal delay and burden. To that end, we encourage you to inform EPA of problems you encounter by sending a note to ENERGYSTARVerificationProqram@enerqvstar.gov. We are committed to considering all issues and addressing them as we are able. These pre-qualification procedures are an interim step intended to raise confidence in ENERGY STAR'S credibility until further enhancements to testing and verification systems are in place. By the end of the year, all products will be subject to qualification testing in EPA- approved, accredited labs. We encourage your participation in the design of further enhancements through EPA's stakeholder process underway now. For presentation materials from discussions hosted to date and a list of product-specific calls regarding these enhancements and other next steps, please see http://www.energystar.gov/testingandverification. EPA is committed to a transparent, collaborative process that leads to effective improvements to the program as quickly as possible. For more information, visit: www.enersvstar. gov ------- |