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Domestic Appliances: Standards

Volume 463: debated on Monday 10 September 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps his Department is taking to improve international manufacturing standards, with particular reference to the energy efficiency of household appliances. (153306)

The Government are committed to working closely with industry including manufacturers, retailers and service providers to encourage them to manufacture, procure and sell more energy efficient products.

Examples of this work include the Market Transformation Programme, the Retail Environmental Sustainability Expert Group and our work with the European Commission on the development of further measures for improving Ecodesign for Energy-using Products.

In addition, the Government's Energy White Paper published on 23 May 2007 proposed a policy package to raise product standards with the potential to save up to 3MtC by 2020. The White Paper also announced proposals in consumer electronics. For example, we are aiming to reduce the stand-by power requirement of new TVs by 85 per cent. by 2015, compared to today's average.