Product Standard Updates

Australian Standards - Current Status and Updates - this is stored as a PDF file and is updated regularly (usually monthly). The first public version was released in February 2003 and historical versions can be obtained on request.

The regulatory program is constantly being reviewed and upgraded and from time to time there are revised or new MEPS levels for products and occasionally revised energy label requirements. Therefore for many products, there are sometimes several versions of the relevant standard which could be used for registration purposes. The latest list of regulatory requirements, the standard and revision date that is applicable and the current Registration Expiry Dates for each product are now available.

Relevant Standards and Amendments Recently Published

The following standards have recently been published by Standards Australia:

Amendment 2 to AS/NZS 2442.2-2000: Performance of household electrical appliances—Rotary clothes dryers Part 2: Energy labelling requirements. The amendment makes some minor corrections to the text. Published 30 April 2007.
Amendment 1 to AS/NZS 2040.1-2005: Performance of household electrical appliances - Clothes washing machines Part 1: Methods for measuring performance, energy and water consumption. Contains an updated load make Table C1 that defines revised mass for various large load items and information on likely mass loss during use. Published 30 April 2007.
Amendment 3 to AS/NZS 6400-2005: Water efficient products—Rating and labelling. The amendment makes a range of corrections to the standard. Published 28 December 2006.

A full listing of published standards since 2002 can be found on the update history page.

Published standards can be purchased online from SAI Global under licence from Standards Australia.

Draft Standards for Public Comment

Standards Australia regularly releases drafts for public comment. This is one mechanism used by governments to ensure that industry and other stakeholders are aware of forthcoming regulations. This page lists relevant public comment drafts that are currently or have recently been out for comment. Draft standards for public comment (denoted as DRYYXXX where YY is the year of release and XXX is a 3 digit number) are public documents but have restricted circulation after the comment period has closed. The suffix CP denotes combined procedure where parallel comment and committee votes are sought - there is a reduced comment period and this procedure is usually reserved for minor and/or urgent matters. Back copies of drafts may be available on request.

Draft Standards which are still open for public comment can be downloaded for no charge or a nominal cost from Standards Australia. Enter the draft number below (with the DR prefix) into the Reference No: search on the web site.

The following standards are currently open for comments:

Draft Standard DR07223 CP: Amendment 2 to AS/NZS 2040.1-2005 - Performance of household electrical appliances - Clothes washing machines Part 1: Methods for measuring performance, energy and water consumption. Contains a revised Appendix C which would allow use of the IEC load as an alternative. Comments close on 2 July 2007.
Draft Standard DR07173CP: Revision to AS/NZS 4474.1 - Performance of household electrical appliances— Refrigerating appliances Part 1: Energy consumption and performance (Revision of AS/NZS 4474.1:1997). Re-issue of DR0500 with changes to test method. Has new technical requirements to reduce circumvention of the standard requirements. Comments close 1 May 2007. Note that is a combined procedure with parallel voting and comment.
Draft Standard DR07172CP: Amendment 4 to AS/NZS 4474.2 - Performance of household electrical appliances— Refrigerating appliances Part 2: Energy labelling and minimum energy performance standard requirements. Mostly changes which are a consequence of the Part 1 revision. Re-issue of DR0501 with changes to test method with new requirements regarding anti-circumvention. Comments close 1 May 2007. Note that is a combined procedure with parallel voting and comment.

A full listing of public comment drafts published by Standards Australia since 2002 can be found on the update history page.

Background on how Australian Standards are used in energy efficiency regulations

There are a large number of products that are now regulated for energy efficiency in Australia. In general terms, the technical and regulatory requirements are specified in Australian Standards, while state regulations make these standards mandatory and specify offences and penalties for non-compliance. Australian Standards therefore provide a "one-stop shop" for industry and regulators, addressing not only testing and performance requirements, but also energy labelling and minimum energy performance requirements. Most standards are published jointly with Standards New Zealand (shown as "AS/NZS"), but there are some standards that are published only by Standards Australia - these are shown as "AS" only.

Australian Standards for products that carry an energy label or which are regulated for MEPS now generally have two parts:

"Part 1" covers the test procedure and ambient conditions such as the test method, performance measures and test materials;
"Part 2" contains the detailed technical requirements for energy labelling and MEPS (where applicable).

For some products, the test procedure and the regulatory standards may not be part numbers "1" and "2" as these part numbers may have been allocated for other purposes. References on this web site to "Part 1" and "Part 2" refer in a generic sense to the test procedure and the regulatory standard respectively.