EPEAT Program
Continuous Monitoring Outcomes ReportServers
SV-2021-01
April 1, 2022

1.0 Background
EPEAT® 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 arerequired to cooperate fully with their GEC-approved CAB during Round activities.
To maintain the level of transparency relied on by purchasers, the EPEAT Program publishes an Outcomes
Report at the conclusion of each Round to summarize the activities conducted and to identify the products andParticipating Manufacturers that received major nonconformances and the actions taken to restore accuracyof the EPEAT Registry.
This document summarizes the activities and results of Continuous Monitoring Round SV-2021-01 conducted
for the Servers product category.

2.0 Overview of Continuous Monitoring Round SV-2021-01
2.1

Investigation Activities

As per the published Round Plan, Continuous Monitoring Round SV-2021-01 used Level 2 Investigations(laboratory evaluation of products to determine the products’ conformance with specific EPEAT Criteria). GECapproved CABs obtained the products, as identified by the EPEAT Program, from the open market without
involvement of the Participating Manufacturers, where possible, and sent them for laboratory evaluation. The
laboratories evaluated the products against the specified Criteria and produced reports summarizing theactivities conducted and the results. GEC-approved CABs reviewed the reports, made recommendations onconformity, and sent the reports to the EPEAT Program. The EPEAT Program made the final decisions onconformity for the Investigations.

Global Electronics Council

Outcomes Report – Level 2 Investigations (P41A Issue2 Rev0)

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SV-2021-01 Outcomes Report2.2April 1, 2022

Criteria InvestigatedContinuous Monitoring Round SV-2021-01 focused on chemicals of concern. Products were selected randomlyusing a random number generator from a list of Participating Manufacturers. In this Round, laboratories
evaluated all products against the Required Criteria listed in Table 1.
Table 1: Criteria Investigated in Round SV-2021-01
Criteria NumberCriterion Title

6.1.1

Conformance with provisions of European Union RoHS Directive

6.1.2

Conformance with substance restriction requirements of the European Union Battery Directive

6.1.3

Reduction of Bromine and Chlorine content of plastic parts > 25 grams6.1.4

Further reduction of Bromine and Chlorine content of plastic parts > 25 grams

8.1.1

Elimination of added heavy metals in packaging

3.0 Summary of Investigations and Final Decisions on Conformity for SV-2021-01
Highlights from this Continuous Monitoring Round are:•12 investigations completed•

11 decisions of Conformance•1 decision of Nonconformance

Further details provided in Section 4•

4 investigations cancelled[Product lost in transit to laboratory]

Figure 1: Final Conformity Decisions for SV-2021-01(shown as percentage of total investigations)Global Electronics Council

Outcomes Report – Level 2 Investigations (P41A Issue2 Rev0)

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4.0 Further Details on Nonconformances for SV-2021-01
Table 2 below provides a breakdown of the nonconformances by Criterion.
Table 2: Breakdown of Nonconformances by Criterion for SV-2021-01
Criteria Number

Criterion Title

6.1.1

Conformance with provisions of European
Union RoHS Directive

Completed
Investigations

Nonconformances

Nonconformance
Rate

3133%

The only nonconformance for SV-2021-01 was a demonstrated nonconformance which means the evidencedefinitively showed the EPEAT Criterion was not met.
4.1Major Versus Minor Nonconformances

All nonconformances must be categorized as either major or minor. For Level 2 Investigations,nonconformances may be categorized as minor if a GEC-approved CAB is unable to obtain a product from themarket and the Participating Manufacturer indicated the product has reached end-of-life and is no longer
available on the market. All nonconformances that do not meet the definition of minor are categorized asmajor.
In this Round there were no Minor Nonconformances, and one Major Nonconformance.
4.2

Major Nonconformances

The Major Nonconformance was classified as a demonstrated nonconformance, which means that the testing
and analysis completed definitively shows that the criterion thresholds are not being met or that the criterion
selection in the EPEAT Registry is not correct when selecting “yes” versus “not applicable” for criteria with theoption to choose “not applicable”.

5.0 Actions to Restore Conformance
Where the final conformity decision is nonconformance (whether major or minor), Participating Manufacturers
must make corrections to restore the accuracy of the EPEAT Registry during the Corrective Action Phase. Theseactivities may include providing additional evidence to demonstrate conformance with the criterion or
unselecting the criteria in the EPEAT Registry. Where the product was found nonconformant and is no longer
available in the marketplace, the product must be archived.
During the Corrective Action Phase, Participating Manufacturers must also develop Corrective Action Plans forother EPEAT-registered products that may be affected by the same underlying issue causing thenonconformance but were not the subject of investigation (called “similarly affected products”).
The following actions were taken to restore accuracy to the EPEAT Registry as a result of ContinuousMonitoring Round SV-2021-01:•1 investigation

Global Electronics Council

Additional data provided by Participating Manufacturer, bringing the productinto conformance with the Criterion

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Table 3 in Section 7 identifies the Participating Manufacturer and product that received a major
nonconformance in Continuous Monitoring Round SV-2021-01.

6.0 Key Findings
6.1

Review of Conformance Assurance Process to Restrict Substances

Participating Manufacturers are reminded to review their conformance assurance processes (CAP) to manage
compliance with substance restrictions to ensure they continue to address and restrict all necessarysubstances.

Global Electronics Council

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7.0 Identification of Major Nonconformances and Corrections Made by Participating Manufacturers
In the interest of transparency, the EPEAT Program identifies the Participating Manufacturers and products that received major nonconformances and the actions taken to restore accuracy of the EPEAT
Registry. Minor nonconformances are generally clerical in nature and do not materially affect the validity of products in the EPEAT Registry. As such, these are not identified in the table below.

Table 3: Summary of Major Nonconformances and Corrections Made by Participating Manufacturers
Participating Manufacturer

ProductProduct TypeCountry

Criterion
NumberLenovoLenovo ThinkSystem ST550

Pedestal ServerCanada

6.1.1

Global Electronics Council

Criterion Title

Conformance with provisions of European
Union RoHS Directive

Required orOptionalUnderlying Reason for Nonconformance

Corrective Action Taken

Required

Demonstrated Nonconformance

Manufacturer provided evidence todemonstrate conformance

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Document Control and Change History
Issue
1Revision01120Owner
EPEAT Conformity
Assurance Manager
EPEAT Conformity
Assurance Manager
Senior Manager,
Ecolabels andResources

Global Electronics Council

ApproverDirector, EPEAT
ProgramDirector, EPEAT
Program
Senior Director,
Ecolabels andManufacturer
Resources

Description
Initial releaseReformatting of document. Addition ofstandardized text.

Outcomes Report – Level 2 Investigations (P41A Issue2 Rev0)

Approval Date

Effective Date2018 Dec 112018 Dec 112021 Mar 25

2021 Mar 30

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