VNEEP - National progaram on Energy Efficer and Conservation

I- Testing units

The following laboratories will be considered and assigned to test energy using products as a basis for the certification of energy saving product:

1. Specialized laboratories accredited by the standards of VILAS system or laboratories accredited by accreditation bodies which have signed mutual recognition agreements (ILAC and APLAC);

2. Laboratories which are not accredited by the standards of VILAS system but capable of testing energy consumption norms shall be inspected, assessed and assigned by the Ministry of Industry to test energy using products to perform energy labeling, as follows:

a) Professional capabilities:

- Having testers properly trained in energy engineering with college or higher degree and at least two years’ experience in testing;

- Having laboratories leaders with university or higher degree in energy engineering and at least three years’ experience in testing.

b) Equipment and testing standards:

- Testing equipment must be properly functional, be maintained, inspected and adjusted in accordance with standards and be accurate enough to perform testing criteria;

- Testing equipment and methods must be sufficient in quantity and appropriate for testing standards and other standards prescribed and periodically added by the Ministry of Industry;

- Materials on testing standards and process must be represented in Vietnamese.

c) Development and maintenance of the record management system including:

- Training records of testers;

- Records on testing, adjustment, maintenance of testing equipment;

- Records on testing results.

3. The Ministry of Industry accepts the testing results of laboratories certified by the IECEE Schemes system.

4. Principles of certification of energy saving products

a) Typical samples shall be tested to assess the suitability of products and goods for energy consumption requirements of the product.

b) The testing of typical samples must be conducted at designated laboratories.

c) Products after being certified as energy saving must be supervised in manufacturing facilities, warehouses or on the market.

II- The order of certification of energy saving products

1. Preparation

Enterprises producing or importing goods on the List of energy using products chosen to label, wishing to be granted certificate and confirmative or comparative labels for their products, should perform the following steps:

a) Sampling: Enterprises take typical samples of the goods according to prescribed standards and send to designated laboratories for testing;

b) Testing: Assigned laboratories shall be responsible for testing products and goods under relevant standards and sending testing results of tested products to enterprises;

c) Making technical dossier: technical dossier made by the enterprise includes the following documents:
- Profile of product design;
- Specifications of the product, especially the parameters of energy consumption norms;
- The announcement of quality standards of the product and announcement of the product’s suitability to standards of energy saving products;
- Product label;
- Other certificates of quality management systems, product quality, technical characteristics (if any).

2. Registration

The dossier of registration for certification of energy saving product submitted to the Ministry of Industry includes:

a) Sheet of Registration for certification of energy saving product specifying that the enterprise registers for confirmative or comparative labels;

b) Technical documents (specified at Point c, Clause 1);

c) Original testing result issued by the unit specified in the Testing units section or a valid copy with the period not exceeding six months from the date of issuance.

Registration procedures, detailed forms of the labeling for energy using products are published on the website of the Ministry of Industry (http://www.moi.gov.vn).

3. Review and evaluation of dossiers

The review and evaluation of registration dossiers comply with the following steps:

a) Within five working days after receipt of the registration for certification of energy saving product, the Ministry of Industry shall consider the suitability of the documents in the dossier to the requirements of the certification of energy saving product; appropriate dossiers shall be transferred to technical assessment; in case the dossier is inappropriate, the Ministry of Industry will notify in writing to request the business to supplement and complete the dossier;

b) Technical Assessment: Within five working days from the date the dossier of registration for certification of energy saving product is transferred to technical assessment, the Ministry of Industry shall assess the test results’ suitability to technical documents and evaluation criteria; determine energy consumption of the product compared to the published standards, quality of the product compared to the average quality of products in the market. In case the assessment results meet the standard, the business shall be granted the certificate of energy saving product.

In case the assessment results fail to meet the standard, the Ministry of Industry shall notify in writing to the business to clarify the reasons for the businesses to remedy within ninety days from the date of receiving the notice. Beyond that date, the dossier of registration for certification of energy saving product of the enterprise shall expire and the enterprise must perform the registration process from the beginning.

III- Certificate of energy saving product

1. Businesses that are granted the certificate of energy saving product are allowed to label their products with confirmative labels or comparative labels in accordance with the right types of energy saving product certified by the Ministry of Industry.

2. Certificates of energy saving products issued to enterprises have the maximum duration of three years.

3. The Form of Certificate of energy saving product is specified in Annex 3 of this Circular.

IV- Energy efficiency labeling

1. After being granted the certificate of energy saving product, businesses shall print the energy efficiency labels at the facility assigned by the Ministry of Industry and perform the labeling of confirmative labels or comparative labels for registered energy using products in accordance with the energy saving level identified in the granted certificate of energy saving product.

2. The energy saving product labels must be printed in the form prescribed by the Ministry of Industry in the appendix to this Circular.

3. The energy saving product labels printed, pasted on products or packages must have appropriate size, must not mislead, obscure or affect the information on product labels under the provisions of law.

4. Upon the expiry of validity of the certificate of energy saving products, businesses must not continue to perform energy efficiency labeling for their products and must register again.

V- Re-certification

1. Enterprises must repeat the registration for certification when the certificates of energy saving product have expired; evaluation criteria have changed or the energy consumption levels of certified products have changed.

2. Products or goods which are re-certified and meet the requirements prescribed in this Circular shall be granted new certificates of energy saving product. Contents and procedures of the re-certification shall be implemented as the first certification.

VNEEP