Study finds 48% of lighting brands supply unregistered products

A recent government study revealed that over 98% of white goods and television sets on sale in Australia are registered products, whereas some 48% of lighting brands surveyed in retail outlets were found not to be registered.

The Survey of Compliance with Registration Requirements released by the Department of Resources, Energy, Tourism on behalf of the Equipment Energy Efficiency Program was shared by NECA, the National Electrical and Communications Association last week. This study targets regulators, wholesalers and manufacturers of lighting products and aims to educate this sector on their obligations according to the GEMS Act to register products against relevant GEMS determinations.

The report examines lamps displayed in 60 stores in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne and involved the inspection of 1,203 lamps for sale. Of these products, only 77% met the requirements under the GEMS legislation to be registered.

Brands with none of their lamps found to be registered accounted for nearly half (48%) of the 44 different brands supplying lamps models included in the survey. 27% of brands were found to have all their surveyed models registered. See Table 8.

Compared to the results of previous surveys into the compliance of appliances in Australia with mandatory registration requirements, a higher proportion of lamps are failing to register in accordance with regulatory requirements than for whitegoods, air conditioners and televisions.

As shown in Figure 13, linear fluorescent lamps have a higher level of registration compliance than other lamp types, but are still less compliant than the other appliances, even though linear fluorescent lamps have been subject to regulations since 2004 and therefore suppliers should be aware of the requirements.

The number of suppliers found to be selling a high proportion of models without registration suggests that some suppliers may not be aware of their obligations. This indicates that further education and awareness raising is warranted for this product sector.

The report is available at www.energyrating.gov.au.

​