Proposed Amendment to Canada's Energy Efficiency Regulations

Bulletin - September 2004

ENERGY PERFORMANCE VERIFICATION PROGRAM

Natural Resources Canada's (NRCan's) Office of Energy Efficiency (OEE) is proposing to amend Canada's Energy Efficiency Regulations (the Regulations) to change the criteria for recognition of a verification agency pursuant to Section 11(3) of the Regulations. The purpose of this document is to provide stakeholders with background information on the proposed changes to the Regulations so that they can submit comments.

BACKGROUND

Canada's Energy Efficiency Act was passed by Parliament in 1992, and the first Energy Efficiency Regulations came into effect in February 1995, following extensive consultations with provincial governments, affected industries, utilities, environmental groups and others. The Regulations apply to prescribed energy-using products imported to or manufactured in Canada and shipped from one province to another. The Regulations continue to apply to an energy-using product even if it has been incorporated into another product.

The Regulations require that all prescribed products meet the minimum energy performance levels of the standards referenced in Schedule I of the Regulations. The products must bear an energy performance verification mark before the products leave the possession of the dealer or dealer's consignee. This verification mark indicates that the energy performance of the regulated product has been verified. This mark must be the mark of either a recognized verification agency or a province.

The current Regulations state that the certification body that authorizes its energy performance verification mark to be placed on prescribed products must be accredited by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) for electrical and electronic products, fuel-burning equipment, or gas-fired appliances and equipment. The accredited certification body must also be recognized by the Minister of NRCan as the administrator of an acceptable energy performance verification program for the prescribed product.

Also, under some provincial laws, a province can issue a provincial label that indicates that the product meets the provincial energy efficiency levels. NRCan accepts provincial labels as verification marks if the provincial energy efficiency standards are equivalent to, or exceed, the federal standards.

PROPOSED REGULATION

To maintain the effectiveness of the Energy Efficiency Compliance Program NRCan is reviewing various elements of it. One of the areas under review is Section 11 of Canada's Energy Efficiency Regulations, which deals with the verification of all energy-using products.

Under the current Regulations, the eligibility criteria for organizations to engage in energy efficiency verification of regulated products are as follows:

• the accreditation of certification bodies by the SCC; and
• the recognition of SCC-accredited certification bodies by the Minister of NRCan as an administrator of an energy efficiency verification program.

NRCan, in consultation with the SCC, has determined that the SCC accreditation process alone meets NRCan's needs for energy efficiency verification.

Therefore, under the proposed regulation, NRCan intends to change the eligibility criteria to reflect the following:

• maintain that certification bodies be accredited by the SCC;
• add that all certification bodies must be accredited by the SCC for energy efficiency verification. The scope of accreditation of these organizations must specifically reflect energy efficiency verification; and
• remove the requirement for the Minister of NRCan to recognize SCC-accredited certification bodies.

HOW WILL THIS AFFECT YOU?

If you are a certification body:

All certification bodies wishing to perform third-party energy efficiency verification of energy-using products must ensure that their scope of accreditation from the SCC specifically includes energy efficiency verification.

NRCan currently recognizes some SCC-accredited certification bodies as administrators of an energy performance verification program that do not have energy efficiency verification specifically as a part of their scope of accreditation. These organizations must apply to the SCC to have their scope extended to include energy efficiency verification, should they wish to continue to be eligible to third-party verify regulated products. Certification bodies can request to have their scope extension evaluation included in their annual audit by the SCC, in which case little, if any additional costs are required. The scope extension evaluation may also be requested prior to the certification bodies' next audit by the SCC (i.e. mid stream), however a fee will apply. For more information on application of scope extensions, please contact the SCC at (613) 238-3222 or by visiting their web site at www.scc.ca.

If you are a dealer of prescribed energy-using products:

As a result of this proposed amendment, dealers of prescribed products must ensure that the energy-using product they are importing into Canada, or shipping between provinces, bears an energy performance verification mark from a certification body accredited by the SCC for energy efficiency verification.

No change is proposed for the application of provincial verification marks.

EFFECTIVE DATE

The effective date for all changes will be July 2005.

COMMENTS INVITED

The information in this bulletin is being issued in advance of prepublication in the Canada Gazette, to allow time for concerned parties to comment on the proposal. All correspondence should be forwarded to the contact below by October 15, 2004.