GEMS Compliance snapshot
As the financial year wraps up, GEMS Inspectors are finalising a report of their market surveillance activity during 2016-17. Inspectors have been busier than ever this year, covering more products, more retailers and a greater geographical area than in previous years. Up to 2 June, over 3300 GEMS products had been inspected, with 78.5 per cent of those products requiring an Energy Rating Label found to be correctly labelled.
Televisions and computer monitors, at 48.5 per cent and 40 per cent respectively, were the least likely to labelled correctly. The percentage of dishwashers and refrigerators & refrigerators/freezers correctly labelled was higher than the overall average, at 85 per cent and 88.4 per cent respectively. However, this has dropped from previous years, signalling a downward trend.
A GEMS product is considered to be incorrectly labelled if it has no label, a damaged or incorrect label, or the label is obscured. The proportion of incorrectly labelled GEMS products that were due to an obscured label was particularly significant in the case of clothes washers, refrigerators and televisions.
GEMS inspectors also noted a trend of missing labels with certain ‘designer’ or ‘built in’ appliances such as refrigerators and dishwashers, and are actively working to educate retailers and manufacturers about alternatives to the stick-on Energy Rating Label.
The full report on GEMS market surveillance activities and the GEMS Regulator’s response to non-compliance will be available in late July 2017.