Enforcing Efficient Lighting Regulations

This guidance note focuses on best practices for enforcing energy efficiency policies for lighting and other products, specifically, for minimum energy performance and energy labelling requirements. It is intended for use by those countries that have yet to develop and implement an enforcement regime for lighting products. Countries with an existing enforcement regime may consider revising or strengthening their enforcement activities according to the best practices highlighted within this guidance note. It aims to be a practical resource for governments and enforcement authorities on processes to follow when implementing a national enforcement programme.
Enforcement of regulations is essential to support the transition to efficient lighting. It safeguards the benefits of efficient lighting policies by ensuring that non-compliant products are removed from the market, and that manufacturers, importers and retailers are held accountable for any non-compliant products on the market. Through enforcement actions, efficient lighting programmes can demonstrate that there are consequences to non-compliance with efficient lighting regulations, and can thereby help to ensure both consumer and competitor confidence in the market and in the technology.
Enforcement activities should be considered and established alongside monitoring and verification activities. However, enforcement is typically a consequence of noncompliance and therefore usually comes after monitoring and verification have been carried out and non-compliant products have been identified. High visibility of enforcement actions also acts as a pre-emptive measure to deter situations of non-compliance. These different situations will be addressed throughout this guidance note. The guidance note also considers both the development and implementation of an enforcement programme.