InkWELS - November 2008
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, November 2008
WELS Scheme stakeholder forum 1 December 2008
The second WELS Scheme stakeholder forum will be held on Monday 1 December 2008 at the Bayview Boulevard Sydney (¾ Grand Ballroom), 90 William Street, Sydney.
The forum is an opportunity for you to express your views and receive updates on the WELS Scheme. The forum is open to all stakeholders: business; industry associations; local, state and federal governments; consumer organisations and conservation groups.
Attendees are invited to submit questions before the forum so they can be addressed during the question and answer sessions.
If you would like to attend, please RSVP by COB Friday 21 November 2008 (including any questions and comments) to jennifer.vandentol@environment.gov.au or telephone 02 6274 1407. Please advise if you have any special dietary requirements.
Forum program
- 9.00 am - Arrival for 9.30 am start
- 9.30 am - Welcome and housekeeping
- 9.35 am - Progress of WELS scheme to date
- 9.50 am - Registration database and legislation
- 10.25 am - Possible expansion of the WELS program
- 11.00 am - Morning tea
- 11.30 am - Compliance and enforcement
- 12.05 pm - Communication activities
- 12.30 pm - Lunch
- 1.30 pm - Final question and answer session and wrap up
- 2.30 pm - Afternoon tea
- 3.00 pm - Information session on draft whitegoods regulation impact statement
Draft whitegoods regulation impact statement released for public comment
The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts is calling for public comment on the draft regulation impact statement: Minimum water efficiency standards for clothes washers and dishwashers and water efficiency labelling of combination washer dryers.
The WELS scheme currently mandates registration and water efficiency labelling of
clothes washing machines, dishwashers, toilets, urinals, taps and showers, with flow
controllers optional. However, with the exception of toilets, there is no minimum standard for these products, which means that inefficient, high water-using products may still be sold to the public.
The draft report assesses the regulatory impacts, including the costs and benefits of setting minimum water efficiency standards for clothes washers and dishwashers to improve the water efficiency of these products. It also assesses the case for introducing a WELS label and minimum standard for the dryer component of combination washer dryers that use water in dryer-mode and stand-alone dryers that use water. On the basis of this assessment the draft report recommends that Australian Governments agree to proceed with these proposals.
The report is available on the WELS website.
Public consultation
The public consultation period is open for nine weeks and will close 23 January 2009.
The Government welcomes responses to the issues raised in the report, including:
- minimum standards
- proposed labelling approach for water-using dryers
- the impact on competition
- testing methods
- projected costs and benefits of the proposed options
- existing compliance costs incurred by product suppliers
- transition arrangements.
All feedback received during the public consultation period will be taken into consideration, under the oversight of the Australian Government Office of Best Practice Regulation, in preparing a final regulation impact statement. The final regulation impact statement and any recommended actions will then be considered for decision by Ministers on the Environment Protection and Heritage Council.
Transition arrangements
Should the proposal proceed to the Environment Protection and Heritage Council and Ministers agree to its implementation, it is proposed that industry would have six months notice from Ministerial decision before registration under the new arrangements would commence. A further 12 months from that time would be given before all products on sale would be required to meet the new labelling arrangements and minimum standards.
How to make a submission
Submissions can be sent by email to dane.roberts@environment.gov.au or mailed to:
Dane Roberts
Director, WELS Expansion
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
GPO Box 787
CANBERRA ACT 2601
For further details on the proposal and consultation, call 02 6274 1413
For further information on Australian Government best practice regulation, visit the Office of Best Practice Regulation website.
More information about the Environment Protection and Heritage Council is available on their website.
Accredited laboratories to conduct WELS testing
The Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) regulator has updated the list of testing laboratories, which are accredited to conduct WELS testing. This follows an audit of testing laboratories used by WELS applicants. This update ensures all laboratories used for WELS testing are fully accredited according to the requirements set out in the WELS Standard AS/NZS 6400, Section 4.4 Documentation and fees required for registration, Note 7.
As of 1 January 2009 laboratory accreditation will only be accepted by the WELS regulator from one of the following:
- Laboratories accredited by the Australian National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) to conduct WELS testing. Details of how to apply for NATA accreditation are available at www.nata.asn.au
- The WELS regulator may consider test reports from non-Australian laboratories that have been certified to conduct WELS testing by other authorities/agencies accredited under the International Standards Organisation. Further details can be found at www.iso.org
- The WELS regulator may also consider test reports from non-Australian laboratories with an international Mutual Recognition Arrangement with NATA established under International Accreditation Cooperation agreements.
The following list includes all testing laboratories the regulator recognises as accredited to conduct WELS testing to AS/NZS 6400 or parts thereof. Laboratories not on this list but which have previously been accepted have been advised in writing of the requirement to meet the above accreditation.
Labs accredited to conduct WELS testing
(Note: not all labs listed below are accredited to conduct testing to all of AS/NZS 6400)
Australia
- Australian Consumers' Association
- Enertech
- SGS Australia Pty Ltd
- Australian National Testing Laboratory Pty Ltd
- Caroma Industries Limited NSW Research and Development Laboratory
- CSIRO Manufacturing & Infrastructure Technology – CMIT
- Plumbing Testing Laboratory - Water Corporation of Western Australia
- Queensland Testing Laboratory
- Vipac Engineers & Scientists Ltd
- GSA Industries (Aust) Pty Ltd - Reliance Worldwide
- Philmac Test Laboratory
China
- Beijing Hardware and Plumbing Equipment
- Dongguan Brand New Plastic Products Ltd – Laboratory
- Xianyang Supervision Testing Centre of Architecture & Sanitary Ceramics
New Zealand
- BRANZ Ltd Plumbing Testing Facility
Singapore
- TUV SUD PSB Pte Ltd
To assist suppliers and laboratories to comply with laboratory accreditation requirements, a grace period ending 1 January 2009 will be in place before accreditation requirements are fully enforced. As of 1 January 2009, the WELS regulator will strictly enforce the use of only fully accredited laboratories.
Where an applicant wishes to use a test laboratory not currently recognised by the regulator as accredited, the applicant or test laboratory must provide the WELS regulator with full details of laboratory accreditation before a test report from that laboratory will be accepted.
If you have any queries regarding laboratory accreditation for WELS testing, please contact WELS on 1800 803 772 (toll-free) or email wels@environment.gov.au
WELS registration database close to implementation
The new WELS online registration system and product search database is close to completion. It is currently in the final testing phase.
The current online registration system closed on Friday 14 November 2008 for a period of up to two weeks. During this time, we will migrate all the registration records and all applications that have been submitted but not finalised. Applications that are in the current system when it closes (including drafts) will not have to be re-done or re-submitted. However, we will be unable to progress these applications until the new system becomes available.
Before the new system goes live, one contact from each organisation registered with WELS will receive an email with a username and password so they can log in as soon as the system becomes available. Details of how that person can manage access to the system by other people in the organisation will be in the email.
We anticipate the new system will be available by the end of November 2008. Please watch the WELS website for updates.
