March 19, 2010 - The US EPA and US DOE announce new action steps to strengthen the ENERGY STAR ® program . " This action comes at a critical time for American consumers, many of whom struggle to keep up with their monthly energy bills. " according to the US DOE and US EPA . The two agencies are taking aggressive action in expanding testing of ENERGY STAR qualified products and enforcement of energy effciency standards.

A two-step process of qualifying ENERGY STAR labeled products has already begun requiring that all products seeking the ENERGY STAR label be tested in approved laboratories and that an ongoing verification testing program be implemented to ensure that efficiency standards are complied with continually. Residential Light Fixtures whether Compact Fluorescent Light or LED's are all tested by accredited third party laboratories to receive the ENERGY STAR label.

A key to strenghthening the value of the trusted brand is the enforcement actions to require compliance with miminum appliance efficiency standards.  For example, on January 25, 2010, the US DOE removed 34 Compact Fluorescent Light models from 24 manufacturers from the list of ENERGY STAR qualified list of products. The specific enforcement steps are:

     1.  formation of an enforcement team within the Office of the General Counsel to pursue violations of certifications issued by the US DOE and compliance with ENERGY STAR  criteria.

     2.  enforcement actions  are imposition of civil penalty, removal of labels and immediate corrective actions. For further details, please see the following:

 http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/f0d7b5b28db5b04985257359003f533b/f721f69419064539852576eb0065e109