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Event Summary

The Industry Roundtable and Regional CFL Workshop entitled “Phasing-In Quality: Establishing Quality Identification System for CFLs in Asia” built on recent efforts to improve CFL quality measurement and gain agreement for a voluntary, industry-led quality identification system for CFLs in Asia.

Industry Roundtable

The day begun with an industry roundtable with the purpose of the building on previous international meetings and discuss voluntary performance levels for CFLs that would be acceptable to industry. Participants included CFL manufacturers and suppliers active in Asia, Asia-based lighting associations, major lighting retailers, and international and regional lighting programs.

The world's three largest lighting companies, Philips, OSRAM and General Electric, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to set up standards for integrated compact fluorescent lamps (CFLi) to rid the Asian market of shoddy energy-saving lights.

Under the agreement, called the "Manila Compact" [ PDF: 456kb | 3 pages ], lighting suppliers in Asia would develop performance levels to rate CFLi quality, a system for product marking and a regional database so consumers could identify which CFLi’s meet quality standards.

Two other lighting companies, including China's Zhongshan Opple Lighting Company Limited and New Zealand's Energy Mad Ltd.co-signed the memorandum, along with three lighting councils - the Indonesian Electrical Lighting Industry (APERLINDO), Lighting Council Australia and the Philippine Lighting Industry Association, Inc. (PLIA). The USAID ECO-Asia Clean Development and Climate Program, the Efficient Lighting Initiative Quality Certification Institute and the Australian Government’s Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts also signed the MOU.

Regional Workshop

In the afternoon, a regional workshop brought together a total of 62 participants from key stakeholders, including regional and international CFL manufacturers, key division heads from testing and labeling institutes in Asian countries, utilities with CFL programs, and other leading experts to discuss a common, regional approach to CFL testing, quality control, and program implementation. The workshop aimed to review and discuss previous communiqués and provide update on national and regional initiatives on CFL quality in Asia as well as offer a forum for discussion of national and regional activities on CFL quality and related issues. Topics included the review of regional CFL standards and updates on CFL markets and programs in the Philippines (including the Philippine Energy Efficiency Project of the Asian Development Bank), Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and China. The challenges and opportunities of mercury in CFL were also discussed.

Participants: major manufacturers and suppliers, lighting associations, and international and regional programs. (Organized by ECO-Asia Clean Development and Climate Program)

Agenda