EPEAT Program
Continuous Monitoring Round Plan
Photovoltaic Modules and Inverters
PV-2024-01
February 19, 2024
BackgroundEPEAT® is a comprehensive voluntary sustainability Type 1 ecolabel that helps purchasers identify sustainable
technology products and services. Central to EPEAT are conformity assurance activities that meet the technicalrigor and credibility needs of the institutional purchasers who rely upon EPEAT. The EPEAT Program ensures
the ongoing conformance of EPEAT-registered products through an ongoing surveillance process known asContinuous Monitoring. Continuous Monitoring activities occur throughout the year and test the ability ofParticipating Manufacturers to prove conformance with EPEAT Criteria on an ongoing basis.
Some Continuous Monitoring activities require that Investigations be conducted in discrete timeframes calledRounds. The EPEAT Program develops an individual plan for each Continuous Monitoring Round, which
specifies the EPEAT Criteria to be investigated, the method of investigation that GEC-approved Conformity
Assurance Bodies (CABs) must use and the specific dates when the investigation activities must be completed.
The EPEAT Program also selects the Participating Manufacturers and EPEAT-registered products and assigns
investigations to CABs, which must fully participate in and are responsible for implementing Continuous
Monitoring Round activities with their Participating Manufacturer clients. Participating Manufacturers are
required to cooperate fully with their GEC-approved CAB during Round activities.
This document contains the individual plan for Continuous Monitoring Round PV-2024-01

Continuous Monitoring Round PV-2024-01 Investigation Activities
Continuous Monitoring Round PV-2024-01 will rely exclusively on publicly available information to determine
the conformance of products with specific EPEAT Criteria. The EPEAT Program assigns specific products andEPEAT Criteria for evaluation to GEC-approved CABs. CABs then have a discrete time period in which they
conduct the investigations, make recommendations on conformity based solely on publicly available evidence,and send Investigation Reports to the EPEAT Program, which makes the final decisions on conformity.

Continuous Monitoring Round PV-2024-01 Criteria and Product Selection
Continuous Monitoring Round PV-2024-01 will focus exclusively on criteria that can be evaluated using publicly
available information. While the EPEAT Program generally tries to focus on a specific impact or issue area inselecting criteria for investigation, the focus in this Round is instead on criteria which have requirements tomake information publicly available.
Participating Manufacturers received up to three investigations: two of the criteria selected for investigation
are Required Criteria, and one is an Optional Criterion. As a result, all Participating Manufacturers received atleast two investigations, and a third investigation was assigned if the manufacturer had selected the OptionalCriterion. Products for investigation were selected randomly using a random number generator.

Global Electronics Council

Level 0 Continuous Monitoring Round Plan (P42C Issue1 Rev0)

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PV-2024-01 Continuous Monitoring Round PlanFebruary 19, 2024

Overview of Criteria and Products Selected
Product Category

Photovoltaic Modules and Inverters

Number of Products Selected

3Criteria Selected

7.2.1—Environmental hot spot identification
9.1.1—Product take-back service and processing requirements
11.2.1—Reporting on key performance indicators

Continuous Monitoring Round PV-2024-01 Schedule
Phase of RoundDatePreparation Phase
CABs notified of Round schedule and activities by EPEAT

February 12, 2024

CABs receive Round assignments and materials from EPEAT

February 19, 2024

Week of Round Training for CABs

Week of March 4

Investigation Phase (CABs performing investigations)
Investigative period begins

March 11, 2024

Investigative period ends

March 25, 2024

Deadline for CAB submission of Investigation Reports to EPEAT

April 8, 2024

Deliberation Phase (EPEAT making conformity decisions)
Deliberation period begins

April 9, 2024

CABs receive Investigation Reports with final conformity decisions from EPEAT

May 24, 2024

Corrective Action Phase (Participating Manufacturers restoring accuracy of EPEAT Registry)
Corrective action period begins

May 31, 2024

Corrective action period ends

June 30, 2024

Deadline for CAB submission of corrective action reports to EPEAT

July 14, 2024

CABs receive final Investigation Reports with correction decisions from EPEAT

July 28, 2024

Reporting Phase
Outcomes Report published

Global Electronics Council

August 11, 2024

Level 0 Continuous Monitoring Round Plan (P42C Issue1 Rev0)

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PV-2024-01 Continuous Monitoring Round PlanFebruary 19, 2024

Process Details – Continuous Monitoring Using Publicly Available Information
Continuous Monitoring Rounds that use publicly available information (called Level 0 Rounds), are conductedin accordance with EPEAT Policy Manual (P65) and EPEAT Conformity Assurance Implementation Manual (P66)
in effect at the time of the Round.
•The EPEAT Program downloads a list of all active EPEAT-registered products, selects products from thelist for investigation and assigns EPEAT Criteria to products, as per the Round Plan.

•GEC-approved CABs receive the list of products and EPEAT Criteria selected for their Participating
Manufacturer clients but do not notify the Participating Manufacturers of the imminent investigations.

•On the start date of the Round, GEC-approved CABs are not permitted to notify the ParticipatingManufacturers that their products have been selected for investigation.

•GEC-approved CABs have a discrete time period in which they must review publicly available evidence
that supports conformance with the selected Criteria and prepare an Investigation Report for eachproduct.

•GEC-approved CABs make recommendations on conformity based solely on publicly availableinformation. CABs are not permitted to request additional information or clarification from
Participating Manufacturers, or inform them that their products have been selected for investigation
until the Corrective Action Period begins.

•GEC-approved CABs submit the Investigation Reports to the EPEAT Program. For Level 0 investigations,CABs are NOT permitted to forward the Investigation Report to Participating Manufacturers until after
the EPEAT Program makes the final conformity decision.

•The EPEAT Program reviews Investigation Reports and makes the final decisions on conformity. TheEPEAT Program then sends the Investigation Reports back to the GEC-approved CABs.

•GEC-approved CABs send the Investigation Reports with the final decision on conformity to theParticipating Manufacturers.

•The EPEAT Program publishes the Round Plan on the date that the Corrective Action period begins.

•For decisions of nonconformance, Participating Manufacturers must make corrections within 30
calendar days to restore the accuracy of the EPEAT Registry. For decisions of ‘inconclusive’, the EPEAT
Program may require the CAB to investigate the same Criterion in a subsequent Round to definitively
determine conformance.

•The EPEAT Program publishes an Outcomes Report identifying the nonconforming products andParticipating Manufacturers, as well as the actions taken to restore accuracy of the EPEAT Registry.

Global Electronics Council

Level 0 Continuous Monitoring Round Plan (P42C Issue1 Rev0)

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PV-2024-01 Continuous Monitoring Round Plan

February 19, 2024

Document Control and Change History
Issue
1Revision
0

Owner
Senior Manager,
Ecolabels andResources

Global Electronics Council

ApproverVice President,
Ecolabels andManufacturer
Resources

Description
Initial release

Level 0 Continuous Monitoring Round Plan (P42C Issue1 Rev0)

Approval Date
2023 Feb 13

Effective Date
2023 Feb 13

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