### 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, Informa tion Technology Industry Council (ITI) Purpose: To discuss industry concerns regardi ng 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 Corporati on of North America (by phone) Ken Salaets Information Technology Industry Council


### Meeting Summary

• Timeline and any assistance requested fr om the computer indus try 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 batt ery chargers and external power supplies. A key distinction was that the NOP R would propose the standards but that a separate rulemaking2

would be accomplished to addr ess the reporting, compliance and enforcement provisions. This enforcement rule will be done by the Appliance St andards Program and the Department’s Office of General Counsel. The NOPR for energy standard s 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 th e two categories. If industry decides to provide comments, the Department will be looking for specific de tails to support any recommendations on how to delineat e between product categories.

• Comments regarding ruling and opportunities to update test meth ods 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 dem onstrate or verify issues that may be raised by industry. Mr. Petrolati agreed to explore the possibility of posti ng 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 ag reed to provide the Inte rnet address after the meeting.

Mr. Petrolati added that any a dditional industry data or delin eation 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 requirement s within the U.S. and globally. Industry is working with the Ca lifornia Energy Commission to secu re modifications of standards and regulations that will impact the same products as the Department rulemaking. Also, the European Union has promulgated rules (ERP Lo t 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 ma nufacturers 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 agen cy has the authority to consider the impact of foreign rules as well.

Participants also discussed whet her it was possible to change th e testing voltage from 115 to 120, given the significant cost of acqui ring 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 no3

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 conf identiality of manufacturer product information that is submitted with the Certification Report. Mr. Petrolati said that the submitter may declare that the information is confiden tial 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 manufactur er’s justification for the need for confiden tiality in making its decisions. He noted, however, that the curren t information that is submitted with the Certification Report is not available to outside pa rties at this time and it is not clear when DOE may make this information available on-line.