. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/USA/551 
10 June 2010  
 (10-3183) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  UNITED STATES
  
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):     
2. Agency responsible:  Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (OEERE), 
Department of Energy (DOE)  (569) 
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 applicab le, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Refrigerators, 
refrigerator-freezers, and freezers (HS:  8418;  ICS: 13.020, 19.020, 97.040, 97.130) 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Energy Conservation 
Program for Consumer Products:  Test Proce dures for Refrigerators, Refrigerator-Freezers, 
and Freezers; Proposed Rule (54 pages, English)     
6. Description of content:  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today is issuing a notice 
of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to amend the test procedures for refrigerators, refrigerator-
freezers, and freezers.  The NOPR consists of  two parts.  First, it proposes amending the 
current procedure by adding test procedur es to account for refrigerator-freezers equipped 
with variable anti-sweat heater controls, amending the long-time automatic defrost test 
procedure to capture all energy use associat ed with the defrost cycle expended during 
testing, establishing test procedures for refri gerator-freezers equipped with more than two 
compartments, making minor adjustments to the language to eliminate any potential ambiguity regarding how to conduct tests, and requiring certain information in certification 
reports to clarify how some products are tested  to determine their energy ratings.  Second, 
the notice proposes amended test procedures for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and 
freezers that would be required for measuri ng energy consumption once DOE promulgates 
new energy conservation standards for these products.  These new standards are currently 
under development in a separate rulemaking ac tivity.  Pursuant to the Energy Policy and 
Conservation Act of 1975, as amended, th ese new standards would apply to newly 
manufactured products starting on 1 January 2014.  While the amended test procedures 
would be based largely on the test methodology used in the existing test procedures, they 
also include significant revisions with r espect to the measurement of compartment 
temperatures and compartment volumes that  would provide a more comprehensive 
accounting of energy usage by these products.  Finally, the new test procedure for 2014 G/TBT/N/USA/551 
Page 2  
 
  would incorporate into the energy use metric the energy use associated with icemaking for 
products with automatic icemakers.  This NOPR also discusses the proposed treatment of combination wine storage-freezer products that were the subject of a recent test procedure waiver, the testing of refrigeration products with  the anti-sweat heater switch turned off, the 
treatment of auxiliary features used in refrigeration products, the treatment of electric 
heaters in the current and proposed test pr ocedures, and the incorporation of icemaking 
energy use in the test procedure.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the natu re of urgent problems where applicable:  
Protection of the environment  
8. Relevant documents:   75 Federal Register (FR) 2 9823, 27 May 2010; Title 10 Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 430.   
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:   }To be determined 
10. Final date for comments:  10 August 2010 
11. Text available from: National enquiry point [X], or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:   Internet URLs: 
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-11957.htm  
http://edocket.access.gpo.g ov/2010/pdf/2010-11957.pdf