On 8th September, at the head office of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, leaders of the Ministry granted the certificate of energy-saving products which are energy labeled for the group of compact light products of three dominant manufacturers of Vietnam, including Dien Quang Lamp Joint Stock Company, Philips Electronic (Vietnam) Co Ltd and Rang Dong Joint Stock Company.

The ceremony was solemnly held with the presence of leaders of the MOIT, Center for Quality Measurement Standards, research units, manufacturing enterprises and representatives of press agencies.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Minister Le Duong Quang praised the enterprises which actively participated in the pilot program on energy efficiency labeling for high efficiency products. He also hoped that leading businesses in labeling activity like Dien Quang, Rang Dong and Philips would continue to participate in the activities of the MOIT in general, of the National Program on Energy Efficiency and Conservation in particular, to provide the community with high quality, energy saving and environmental friendly products.

Energy labeled compact lights has undergone the rigorous testing process for quality, energy efficiency and met the standard TCVN 7896:2008.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Le Duong Quang and head of Energy Conservation Office Nguyen Dinh Hiep granted certificates of energy saving products for the three manufacturers Dien Quang, Philips and Rang Dong.

 After three years of implementing the pilot program on Energy Efficiency Labeling for energy saving and high efficiency products, the labeling program has gained encouraging achievements. Currently, nine companies are participating in Energy Efficiency Products Labeling for such product as T8 fluorescent lamp, ballast and street light. Up to the mid-2009, five million labeled energy saving T8 fluorescent lights and two million labeled energy saving electromagnetic ballasts have been launched in the market.

The ceremony is also an opportunity for the MOIT to introduce new Recognized energy label to replace the old label used in the pilot period. The new label, which is called "Viet energy star", will be officially used in the Roadmap for developing energy labeling towards energy using products in large quantity.

"Viet Energy Star" is applied with the desire to promote manufacturers, importers and distributors to provide the market with high energy efficiency products and gradually dispose of backward and energy consuming equipment.

In the coming time, the labeling program will turn from voluntary to compulsory. New labels will include Recognized energy label (applied to the leading energy efficiency products) and Comparative energy label (using 5 levels of efficiency to compare the energy efficiency of products on the market).

Specifically, according to the Draft Decision of the Roadmap, for some household appliances, the voluntary phase will be completed before 1/1/2011 and turned into compulsory after 1/1/2013. Fluorescent lights, fluorescent light ballasts, air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, electric pots, electric fans, television with the energy efficiency lower than the minimum energy efficiency level will not be allowed to be imported and produced from 1/1/2015.

According to the MOIT, after compact fluorescent lights, energy label – Viet energy star will be applied to other products such as electric fans, refrigerators and air conditioners.

By Minh Duc