Ex Parte Meeting Report 

Date: 27 July 2011 

Time: 2:30-4:00 p.m. Eastern 

Location: U.S. Department of Energy 

Organizer: Ken Salaets, Director, Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) 

Purpose: To discuss industry concerns regarding the impact of new battery charger 

efficiency standards for units that power Unlimited Power Supply units, and 

other matters.

Attendees 

Name Affiliation 

Victor Petrolati U.S. Department of Energy 

Matthew Nardotti Navigant Consulting 

David Cassano Apple Inc. (by phone) 

Jay Taylor APC by Schneider-Electric 

Sophia DesRoches Canon U.S.A., Inc. (by phone) 

Rona Newmark EMC Corporation 

Joe King EMC Corporation (by phone) 

Robert Gunther EMC Corporation (by phone) 

Bob MacArthur EMC Corporation (by phone) 

Phil Roux EMC Corporation (by phone) 

Henry Wong Intel Corporation 

Jim Kardach Intel Corporation (by phone) 

Alvin Carter Lenovo (by phone) 

Mark Sharp Panasonic Corporation of North America (by phone) 

Ken Salaets Information Technology Industry Council 

Meeting Summary 

• Timeline and any assistance requested from the computer industry on information 

with these products. 

Mr. Petrolati began the meeting with an update on the forthcoming Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking (NOPR) for energy standards for battery chargers and external power supplies. A 

key distinction was that the NOPR would propose the standards but that a separate rulemaking 
2 

would be accomplished to address the reporting, compliance and enforcement provisions. This 

enforcement rule will be done by the Appliance Standards Program and the Department’s Office 

of General Counsel. The NOPR for energy standards rule will apply to consumer products rather 

than commercial products, but there is still the issue of how the two will be defined, and how to 

treat products that are “close to the (dividing) line” between the two categories. If industry 

decides to provide comments, the Department will be looking for specific details to support any 

recommendations on how to delineate between product categories. 

• Comments regarding ruling and opportunities to update test methods in the future. 

ITI representatives expressed concern that the test data being utilized by the Department for the 

NOPR standards may not be of sufficient size to demonstrate or verify issues that may be raised 

by industry. Mr. Petrolati agreed to explore the possibility of posting the test data in advance of 

the NOPR, to allow more time for evaluation. Mr. Nardotti indicated that some test data is 

already available via the agency’s web site, and agreed to provide the Internet address after the 

meeting. 

Mr. Petrolati added that any additional industry data or delineation of concerns should be 

submitted as a comment to the forthcoming NOPR. 

• Harmonization with U.S. and foreign standards and regulations 

ITI reiterated industry’s priority for harmonized requirements within the U.S. and globally. 

Industry is working with the California Energy Commission to secure modifications of standards 

and regulations that will impact the same products as the Department rulemaking. Also, the 

European Union has promulgated rules (ERP Lot 6) that will impact power supply units. 

Industry expressed the hope that the Department will ensure that Federal rules will not conflict 

other market requirements and burden manufacturers with unnecessary costs. 

• Other topics 

Other topics discussed included the opportunity available to manufacturers to appeal to the 

Department’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (see http://www.oha.doe.gov/default.asp ) for a 

waiver from agency rules if compliance would have a “detrimental economic impact.” Mr. 

Petrolati said that the Department’s analysis of regulatory burdens typically focuses on U.S. 

impacts, but agreed to look into whether the agency has the authority to consider the impact of 

foreign rules as well. 

Participants also discussed whether it was possible to change the testing voltage from 115 to 120, 

given the significant cost of acquiring testing equipment for 115 volts. Mr. Petrolati said that the 

Department is obligated by law to use EPA’s ENERGY STAR® testing procedures for external 

power supplies, which is based on 115 volts. Mr. Petrolati also stated that DOE received no 
3 

comments from stakeholders during the process of finalizing the test procedure rule for battery 

chargers and external power supplies that testing at 115 volts was a burden. 

Finally, there was a discussion regarding the confidentiality of manufacturer product information 

that is submitted with the Certification Report. Mr. Petrolati said that the submitter may declare 

that the information is confidential and should not be available under the Freedom of Information 

Act but that the Department has the authority to decide whether the information can be released 

and takes into account a manufacturer’s justification for the need for confidentiality in making its 

decisions. He noted, however, that the current information that is submitted with the 

Certification Report is not available to outside parties at this time and it is not clear when DOE 

may make this information available on-line.