. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/TBT/N/USA/676 
26 January 2012  
 (12-0522) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Notifying Member:  UNITED STATES  
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):     
2. Agency responsible:  Office of Energy Efficiency  and Renewable Energy (OEERE), 
Department of Energy (DOE) (693) 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above :    
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:   
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Industrial equipment (HS 
8415, 8418.61, 8514.10-83, 8516; ICS 13.020, 23.120, 27.080, 97.100) 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Energy Conservation 
Program for Certain Industrial Equipmen t: Energy Conservation Standards and Test 
Procedures for Commercial Heating, Ai r-Conditioning, and Wa ter-Heating Equipment 
(78 pages, in English) 
6. Description of content:  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is proposing to amend its 
energy conservation standards for several classes of commercial heating,  air-conditioning, and 
water-heating equipment. Pursuant to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 
(EPCA), as amended, DOE must assess whether the uniform national standards for these 
covered equipment need to be updated each time the corresponding industry standard--the 
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/A merican Society of He ating, Refrigerating, 
and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)/Illu minating Engineering Society of North 
America (IESNA) Standard 90.1 (ASHRAE Standard 90.1)--is am ended, which most recently 
occurred on 29 October 2010. Based upon its anal ysis of the energy savings potential of 
amended energy conservation standards and the lack of clear and convincing evidence to 
support more-stringent standard s, DOE is proposing to adopt the amended standards in 
ASHRAE Standard 90.1 for small,  large, and very large water-cooled and evaporative-cooled 
commercial package air conditioners; variable refrigerant flow (VRF) water-source heat pumps less than 17,000 Btu/h; VRF water-sour ce heat pumps at or greater than 135,000 
Btu/h; and computer room air conditioners. DOE is also proposing updates to the current 
Federal test procedures to inco rporate by reference the most current versions of the following 
relevant industry test procedures specifie d in ASHRAE Standard 90.1: Air-conditioning, 
Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (A HRI) 210/240 (small commercial package air 
conditioning and heating equipment); AHRI 340/ 360 (large and very large commercial 
package air conditioning and heating equipment) ; Underwriters Laboratories (UL) 727 and  G/TBT/N/USA/676 
Page 2  
 
  ANSI Z21.47 (commercial warm-air furnaces); and ANSI Z21.10.3 (commercial water 
heaters). Furthermore, DOE is proposing to adopt AHRI 1230 for newly-created classes of 
variable refrigerant flow air conditioners and heat pumps, ASHRAE 127 for computer room 
air conditioners, and AHRI 390 for single pack age vertical air c onditioners and single 
package vertical heat pumps. In addition, DOE is announcing a public meeting to receive 
comment on its proposal and related issues. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Protection of the environment and consumers.  
8. Relevant documents:   77 Federal Register (FR), 17 Ja nuary 2012; 10 CFR Part 431.  Will 
appear in the Federal Register when adopted.   
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    To be determined 
10. Final date for comments:  2 April 2012 
11. Text available from:  National enquiry point [X], or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addres ses, if available of the other body:    
Internet URL's: 
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/ FR-2012-01-17/html/2012-327.htm  
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-01-17/pdf/2012-327.pdf