Five Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) of energy related products (ErPs) have signed an agreement of cooperation with the European Union project "EU4Energy Labelling and Ecodesign" and formally became its participants.
In the upcoming period, these bodies will receive support of foreign and domestic experts according to their individual needs in order to raise the capacities, and then get accredited, to assess the compliance of products characteristics with current EU regulations in the field of energy labelling and ecodesign.
To enable adequate participants selection, the entire field of conformity assessment services of energy related products in the household in Serbia, the region and the EU member states, has previously been analyzed. After that, potential participants were informed and invited to apply for participation, in accordance with the defined criteria (relating to their knowledge and previous experience in product testing, technical competence, maturity of the quality management system, as well as their plans for accreditation).
CAB that will participate in the project are:
• "Kvalitet a.d.", Niš, for assessment of circulation pumps, refrigerating appliances, televisions, space heaters, water boilers, domestic ovens, solid fuel boilers and light bulbs;
• “Mihajlo Pupun Institute - Center for Gas Technology”, Belgrade, assessment of space heaters;
• "IEG Industry of electric heaters", Leštane, for assessment of space heaters, boilers and ovens;
• "Idvorski laboratories", Belgrade, for assessment of television;
• "AN LAB co doo", Belgrade, assessment of light bulbs.
"Every country needs a CAB that will be able to check the energy labelling of products, so that their citizens as consumers would not be deceived by producers. Also, in order for domestic producers to be able to place their products to the European Union market, they need to assess that they can meet all the necessary criteria, which include putting an energy label for the class that the products meet", says Vladimir Vukasinovć, General Manager of “Kvalitet a.d.” from Niš.
Following the improvement of laboratory capacities, the CABs will, in cooperation with the market inspection, assess the characteristics of selected products and their compliance with regulations.
Serbia is currently implementing a total of 10 European Union regulations on energy labelling for certain product categories and is in the process of adopting EU legislation on ecodesign.
The European Union project "EU4Energy Labelling and Ecodesign" aims at facilitating the access to accredited laboratory assessment services to domestic producers.