CEA: DOE Mandates Costly, Duplicative Test Procedure for Televisions

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has just issued a final rule to establish a new test procedure to measure power consumption in televisions. The process began in January 2012, when the DOE issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to establish a new test procedure to measure power consumption in televisions. DOE proposed amendments to its TV test procedure in a March 2013 supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking. In response to the most-recent developments at the DOE, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) issued a statement decrying the establishment of the final rule:

“DOE’s rulemaking for television test procedures is wasteful and unnecessary in light of industry leadership and accomplishment on energy efficiency in this major product category. Instead of reinventing the wheel with its own test procedure, DOE should have deferred to the existing industry consensus standard, known as ‘CEA-2037,’ which was developed with input from interested industry and non-industry stakeholders and which properly constitutes the United States testing standard for measuring power consumption in televisions,” stated Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the CEA.

“By mandating its own test procedure, DOE has tied everyone’s hands, limiting the ability of industry to maintain standards that benefit consumers and existing programs such as ENERGY STAR and EnergyGuide. DOE’s test procedure may be very similar to the industry standard CEA-2037, but not exactly the same, and because it is locked into law, it will not keep pace with technology changes relevant to TV energy use and disclosures of energy use to consumers,” he continued

“CEA and our members have been on the vanguard of energy efficiency initiatives related to the consumer electronics industry. Televisions in particular are an energy efficiency success story thanks to innovation, competition and the ENERGY STAR program. We strongly oppose the DOE’s attempt to trump successful industry solutions and programs with unnecessary government regulations. Especially now in Washington, D.C., can we really afford to spend time and taxpayer dollars duplicating and undercutting private sector initiatives?” Shapiro asked.