As a result of the federal and provincial government commitments to reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and to providing a better living environment for years to come, member companies are now exposed to an emergence of new regulations and a proliferation of new standards in the area of renewable energy, energy efficiency, environmental protection, sustainability, human health and product safety.

In a context of a fast changing environment, CEMC staff works closely with members, Federal and Provincial’s government and other associations to develop a North America harmonized approach in regards to policies, regulations or standards, and to resolving issues arising from these regulatory initiatives for the benefits of members. In past years, CEMC has developed working relationship with influent regulators such Natural Resources Canada, Environment Canada, Health Canada and other provincial governments like British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec. CEMC has been involved in important matters of interest such as provincial Extended Producer Responsibility Programs, Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, and Electrical Safety Authority – Product Safety regulations, Canada Chemical Plan and associated toxic material regulations …

On the standards domain, CEMC is very active on many CSA Strategic and Technical Committees responsible to providing strategic direction on future needs and harmonization of standards nationally or internationally. CEMC is currently engaged as a member or a chair, in 25 CSA key committees responsible for developing technical standards for a multitude of products in the area of energy efficiency, standby power, product safety, harmonics, sustainability and more. In addition, CEMC benefits from EFC’s representation regarding other matters that might be of interest to members. As an example, EFC sits on the Standards Council of Canada’s Canadian National Committee to the IEC (CNC/IEC) and represents Canada on CANENA, the Council for the Harmonization of Electrotechnical Standards in the Nations of the Americas.

For more information on CEMC’s Codes & Standards activities, contact Richard Martel, Vice President, Technical Services – Consumer at 647-260-3095.

EFC-CEMC actively participates–nationally and internationally–on standards development supporting harmonization in key focus areas, including product safety, product design and requirements, energy efficiency and environmental/recycling.

Recently, CEMC has been actively involved in the following standards development activities on behalf of members:

• Canadian Adoption of IEC 61000 -3-2 and 3-12 Harmonic Limits. Our position is to develop harmonized North American standards.
• TC on Consumer and Commercial Products. This is TC focused on the safety of products and over 150 consumer product Technical Sub Committees (TSC) report through this TC
• TSC on Performance Requirements for TVs Standard C382
• Standard on Performance of Set Top Boxes – STB & DTA Committee C380

For more information on CEMC’s Codes & Standards activities, contact Richard Martel, Vice President, Technical Services at rmartel@electrofed.com, 647-260-3095.

March Update

Revision of the CSA C 381.2 Performance of Battery Charging Circuits

On March 24, 2012 the US Department of Energy released a pre-publication version of the battery charger and external power supply energy conservation standards notice of proposed rulemaking. DOE will hold a public meeting on May 2, 2012, and comments on the NOPR will be due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. The DOE proposed rulemaking can be found at:

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/residential/battery_external_nopr.html

Reminder:

The CSA Technical Subcommittee for the development of the C 381.2 standard which is chaired by Richard Martel is still waiting for DOE to finalize the energy conservation standard on battery chargers in order to complete its work.

Revision of the CSA C381.1 Performance of External Power Supplies (EPS)

A Project Proposal Form to update the CSA C381.1 energy performance standard for EPS is being circulated for review and approval by the Steering Committee on Performance, Energy Efficiency and Renewable (SCOPEER) in June 2012. The objective will be to harmonize with the latest DOE rulemaking for this product technology. The activities of the subcommittee should resume in early July 2012 after getting approval from SCOPEER.

New Energy Performance Standard (CSA C872) for Small Network Equipment (SNE)

The initial meeting of the new C872 technical subcommittee (TSC) to develop a new energy performance standard for Small Network Equipment has been scheduled for March 29, 2012 at CSA in Mississauga. Currently there is no CSA standard on energy efficiency performance levels and measurement/verification methodology for SNEs. The initial meeting will outline the CSA standards development process, the scope of the project, review reference documents, the status of the Energy Star program in the U.S. and be an opportunity for stakeholders to submit their interest in the subcommittee.