THE DEPARTMENT of Energy (DoE) said it will be launching its energy labeling program registration platform covering energy-intensive appliances on Aug. 12.
In a statement, the Energy department urged all importers, manufacturers and distributors of energy-consuming products (ECPs) covered by the Philippine Energy Labeling Program (PELP) to register through the portal.
ECPs include air conditioning units, refrigerators, television sets and lighting products.
The “PELP Online Company Registration Platform” is an “all-in-one” system for PELP applications, and a means to expedite the monitoring of compliance with the energy labeling program, according to the Energy Efficiency & Conservation Performance Regulation and Enforcement Division (EPRED) of the DoE’s Energy Utilization Management Bureau.
“The platform is composed of the company registration, product registration and label issuance modules for PELP applications… The PELP system also features a dashboard for registered companies that will allow them to view the status of their ongoing applications and access their product’s registered data, as well, for ease in updating information,” the EPRED told BusinessWorld in an e-mail Monday.
It said registration for companies will typically take three days. Meanwhile, product registration will have a wait time of a week, while the issuance of labels will take three days, depending on the accuracy and completeness of the information provided.
EPRED said that the online portal aims to deter “fly-by-night” enterprises by only allowing approved companies to register their products and request for the official energy labels.
Once the online portal is launched, all sellers of PELP-covered products are required to register through the platform.
According to the EPRED, entities that do not register their products online cannot request the required energy labels. Only registered products sporting the DoE’s official energy label can be sold.
“If during market monitoring activities a product is found to be sold without an energy label, then the DoE team will trace the product to its manufacturer, importer or distributor, who will be held liable and be penalized with the corresponding fines and penalties,” it added.
Last month, the Energy department released the rules governing the labeling of ECPs. The guidelines require sellers to label their cooling products, refrigerators, TVs and lighting products with their respective energy efficiency ratings. — Angelica Y. Yang