Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards
(WELS) Scheme

Registering products?

Washing machine.  Photo: Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

How to register

To register a product, you need to submit the following material for assessment:

The time taken for registration depends on the complexity and completeness of each application. The average product registration approval time is currently four to six weeks. The registration is effective and the product legal to supply from the date of publication of a notice in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette.

Testing and certifying your products

As part of the registration process you must demonstrate your manufactured or imported products meet the WELS Standard. You do this by providing WELS with laboratory test reports and other relevant product certifications showing that the water consumption of your products has been tested in accordance with relevant standards.

The National Association of Testing Authorities  has listed accredited testing laboratories and these are available set out in the contact list mentioned below. More information on testing is in the WELS Suppliers Guide - Laboratory testing and maintaining quality of water efficiency performance in WELS products.

If you have a Standards Australia WaterMark certification which is out of date you need to update it and provide certification and water efficiency test reports to meet the current registration requirements for AS/NZS 6400:2005.

The contact list for registering products for the Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Scheme contains contact details of accredited bodies for WELS certification, and NATA accredited laboratories that undertake testing of WELS products. These contact details may be useful for those wanting to register WELS products.

Zero star rating

zero star rated water label

Even if your product does not meet the WELS Standard, it still needs to be labelled. To be able to label your product with a zero star rating you still need to provide test reports from an independent testing laboratory or product certifying agency showing it does not meet the WELS Standard.

'Family of models' and 'sets of minor products'

Two or more WELS products can be considered in the same 'family' if each product has the same:

The WELS Regulator may declare two or more WELS products to be 'a set' of minor products if the manufacturer's application shows:

Online registration

WELS products are registered through the online registration system. This saves your time by:

Use the WELS online registration system  to register all WELS products. If you have questions regarding registering online, please contact WELS at wels@environment.gov.au or call 1800 803 772.

Dishwater. Photo: Geoff Comfort

Passwords and instructions

To protect your records from unauthorised viewing you need a username and password to access the online registration system. You can apply for these through the WELS online registration system .

You will be contacted by email within five working days and given your log-on details and instructions. More detailed instructions for registering online are in the users' manual.

If you already have a username and password, you can go straight to the WELS online registration system  to start the process of registering your product.

For further information about product registrations contact WELS at wels@environment.gov.au or call 1800 803 772

Fees

It costs AUD$1,500 to register a product, a family of models, or set of minor products. The registration fee is determined in the Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Determination 2005 .

The preferred and quickest method of payment is by electronic funds transfer or EFT. Alternatively, the registration fee can be paid by cheque or credit card (Visa or MasterCard only).

When paying, you must provide the WELS Record ID number so that the payment can be linked to your application. This means you need to submit your application before you pay.

Once paid, a tax invoice/receipt will be posted to you.

If you request a tax invoice prior to payment, please allow a week for this to be provided to you.

If you are making a payment from outside Australia, the intermediary bank might charge a fee. It is your responsibility to ensure that the full AUD$1,500 is transferred as payment of the WELS registration application fee. Any bank fees will need to be paid by you in addition to the $1,500.

If you would like any further information, please contact WELS at WELS@environment.gov.au or on 1800 803 772.

Electronic payments

Transmit payments to:
Account Name: DEWHA
Bank: Reserve Bank of Australia
Bank Address: 20-22 London Circuit Canberra ACT 2600
BSB: 092 009
A/c No: 115859
Currency: Australian Dollars
Sort/Swift Code: RSBKAU2S

Credit card payments

Please phone 1800 803 772 to make a credit card payment.

N.B. Only Visa or MasterCard are accepted.

You will need to provide:

Cheques

Cheques should be made out to the Collector of Public Monies and posted to:

Collector of Public Monies
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
PO Box 787
Canberra ACT 2601

Make sure you include the WELS Record ID number with your payment.

Registration approvals

Once your application has been approved or otherwise you will be notified by email. If you are successful, formal recognition of your product registration will also appear in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette Government Notices  and the details of your registered product will appear on the WELS product search database.

Registration of a WELS product normally lasts for five years.

If the Minister makes a change to the WELS Standard that affects the registration of your product, it may need to be re-registered.

Key

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