Energy labeling program: To be effective and on track

11/10/2014

Energy labeling has been effectively implemented in many countries all over the world in promotion of the market share for energy-saving and high-performance equipment.

From 07 January 2013, a group of home appliances to be consumed on the market must have energy labels. To 01 January 2014, mandatory energy labeling had been applied to refrigerators, horizontal washing machines and televisions.

Energy labeling has been effectively implemented in many countries all over the world in promotion of the market share for energy-saving and high-performance equipment. In Vietnam, this operation has been initiated since 2006 in the form of voluntary and officially applied in the form of mandatory from 07 January 2013 under the Decision 51/2011/QD-TTg and the Decision No. 03/2013/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister.

Uniformity and efficiency

According to Mr. Dang Hai Dung, Deputy Director of Department of Science, Technology and Energy Efficiency, General Department of Energy, Ministry of Industry and Trade: "Currently, legislative documents applied in the implementation of energy labeling, facilities, manpower, machinery, laboratory systems have been strengthened and are being finalized.

Energy labeling program has received the active participation of the related Ministries and Agencies, to be synchronous from central to local in the inspection activities of manufacturing, importing and monitoring products after certification when products are circulated on the market (especially the participation of the General Department of Customs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Science and Technology, Inspection Agencies and market management agencies at the Department of Industry and Trade of provinces and cities ...). The program has also attracted the interest and active participation of the enterprises manufacturing electronic devices."

A variety of products with energy labels are displayed for sale in many supermarkets across the country

After over one year implementing mandatory energy labels, the first success we can see from the program is to create the transparency about energy efficiency of the products in the market, helping consumers to choose better energy-saving products through the information displayed on the energy labels.

As of June 2014, Ministry of Industry and Trade had certified energy labels for 6,215 products of 13 categories of equipment in accordance with the Decision No. 51/2011/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister, including 473 television categories, 749 kinds of lighting devices, 1,585 kinds of electric fans, 863 air conditioning products, 301 types of washing machines, 1,354 cookers and 210 distribution transformers.

Energy labels have contributed to the transformation and towards to phasing out the low-efficiency equipment. It can be clearly seen the impact of energy label program (Decision 51/2011/QD-TTg) through the change in the market share of energy use devices such as inverter air conditioners (in 2008 the number of inverter conditioners on the market is less than 1% but by mid-2014, the number increased to nearly 30% of the market share of household air conditioners); or through the replacement of CFL bulbs by incandescent lamps and the removal of the over 60W incandescent bulbs on the market or the replacement of high-performance fluorescent lamps T8 by low performance fluorescent lamps T10.

At the moment, energy labels are being welcomed by consumers.

Consumers are more interested in the products with energy labels

To further promote the use of high-efficient vehicles, equipment, in the future the Ministry of Industry and Trade will coordinate with the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Science and Technology and other agencies to implement relevant management activities of the low-efficient devices that are going to be eliminated according to the Decision No. 78/2013/QD-TTg, dated 25 December 2013 of the Prime Minister.

Accordingly, the equipment that belongs to the elimination list will be banned of production and circulation on the market if the performance is lower than the minimum energy efficiency provisions in the national standards (issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology). This Decision comes into force from 01 January 2015.

To reduce the cost and time and to facilitate the businesses in the registration of energy labels, The General Department of Energy is piloting the online application of energy labeling. This formula enhances both the management agency (Ministry of Industry and Trade) and Enterprises to save time and cost of printing documents. Certification process thus becomes faster and more efficient. Businesses have to submit only 01 original copy instead of hard copies as by conventional offline registration.

Businesses that want to register energy labeling can submit their application to the sole address at the Office of energy saving, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, 54 Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi. In addition, enterprises can use online registration.

Guide for online registration can be found here.

Energy labeling for cars applied from 01 January 2015

Following the Decision 51/2011/QD-TTg, from 01 January 2015 the group of transportation vehicles including 7-seat cars or smaller ones are required to be energy labelled. To implement this, on 05 May 2014, Vietnam Registry Department organized a Workshop to introduce the 2nd Draft of Circular jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Transportation "Regulation on the inspection, certification and energy labeling for 7-seat cars and smaller ones".

Herewith, 7-seat cars and smaller ones (except for military vehicles, police vehicles, cars temporarily imported for re-exported, used cars, cars not using gasoline, diesel, LPG, CNG) have to apply for registration, inspection, certification of fuel consumption and energy labeling before being circulated on the market.

Cars of less than 7 seats must have energy labels from 01 January 2015

In the discussion with Mr. Nguyen Dong Phong, Deputy Director of Office of motor vehicle quality, Vietnam Registry Department, he said that the current preparatory works for the energy labeling for 7-seat cars and smaller ones are being positively deployed, to ensure the proper implementation of the roadmap of energy labeling.

He also added, Vietnam Registry Department has a modern quality control office that is established by the funding of millions of euros from the Austrian ODA. This office will ensure the best technology and human resources for the inspection and certification of fuel consumption, energy labeling for the category of 7-seat cars and smaller ones.

Consumers have more interest and confidence when shopping

To achieve the most objective assessments, www.vneec.gov.vn has conducted surveys at a number of electronics supermarkets in Hanoi.

To observe a series of big electronics stores in Hanoi, we found a variety of products with energy labels such as televisions, air conditioners, washing machines, electric fans, rice cookers of many major brands as Sharp, Daikin, Panasonic, Electrolux, LG, Sony ...

At Media Mart, according to the supermarket manager, although the mandatory provisions of energy labeling came into force from 01 July 2013, many products with energy labels had been sold long before that time.

The manager also shared that in the peak months of the last summer, a lot of consumers to Media Mart asked for advice on energy saving products, mainly including air conditioners, refrigerators and electric fans. As his observations, the products with energy labels of 4 or 5 stars are the best-selling products of all.

"A lot of customers asked us about energy labeling products. They asked us to explain more about the information on the labels, how to compare among the same products and what products they should buy. Consumers have more trust and reliability to choose the equipment with energy labels" said Topcare’s salesperson.

According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Truong, customer service staff of Topcare supermarket (Cau Giay District, Hanoi), consumers are now relatively keen on energy labeling products. "Their first criterion is the compliance of the products with their demand. The second is the information of energy efficiency on the labels".

"Conditioners, refrigerators, televisions are among the most popular categories of energy labeling. Most customers choose the products that are labeled with 4 or 5 stars, “added Mr. Truong.

Ms. Le Thi Lan Phuong - the salesperson of a store on Xuan Thuy street (Cau Giay District, Hanoi) stated that: "In fact, not all consumers know about energy labels. However, when they are informed about the advantages of the labeled products in comparison with other products, most customers choose the devices with energy labels ".

We had an interview with Mr. Trinh Hong Anh, a government official (Ba Dinh District, Hanoi), who was going shopping at the electronics supermarket. He said that he was very interested in the energy labeling products. "My habit when buying electronic equipment for families is considering its power consumption. Since the deployment of energy labeling, I find it easier to identify the energy-efficient products and to compare among the same categories of products. Generally, the energy labeling products have already been approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade so we the consumers can fully trust.

By Yen Pham

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Copyright by Agency for Innovation, Green Transition and Industry Promotion, Ministry of Industry and Trade