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Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme (WELS)

Water efficiency labelling regulations are being developed. The Ministry expects them to be finalised by the end of the year.

The scheme requires that at point of sale, a new blue and white, water efficiency rating label will appear on taps, dishwashers, washing machines, showers, toilets, and urinals. This label will help consumers choose water using products that use less water but are still of good quality.

The label will be on display in showrooms, on the products where possible and also in promotional materials such as print and websites.

The star rating system being used is similar to the energy rating labels already on appliances: The more stars a product has out of six, the more efficient it is in terms of using less water, while still achieving a high performance result.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs (MCA) has responsibility for the regulations, and the Ministry for the Environment is in charge of their implementation. The Commerce Commission will enforce the scheme.

Once the regulations have been finalised, the Ministry will be operating a website www.waterefficiency.govt.nz. This site is where manufacturers and importers can list their product and where consumers can search for products to compare water use and efficiency.

Choosing products that use less hot water in particular will help consumers to save money and reduce energy use. Over time it is expected that demand for products that use less water will influence manufacturers to make quality products that use less water.

This will in turn help New Zealand address water shortage and demand issues.

Timetable for implementation

The Ministry expects the regulations to be finalised by the end of 2009. They will require all new products to be tested and labelled 12 months after the date the regulations have been finalised and published. There will be a special provision for any items that were already in stock before the regulations have been finalised to be cleared without being tested and labelled.

Background

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs issued a consultation document on a proposed Consumer Information Standard (Water Efficiency Labelling) under the Fair Trading Act in June 2007.

The Ministries then worked together to prepare proposals for the WELS regulations for consideration by Cabinet in late 2008. These regulations are described broadly below:

  • Coverage, testing, and rating of products – the WELS regulations will specify what products have to be tested and labelled, how they are to be tested, and how the label information (water consumption, efficiency and star rating) is to be calculated. They will use standards as necessary for technical details.
  • Labelling requirements and process – the regulations will specify the design of the label, when and how it must be used, and how text information may be used to convey the equivalent information if it is not practical to apply a label.
  • Product listing, compliance, and enforcement – the supplier of each regulated product will be required to list the product via a website, as an additional source of consumer information and for traceability and enforcement.

Note: that amendments to the joint standards AS/NZS 3718 and AS/NZS 3662, relating to testing of taps and showers, were needed to enable a viable WELS scheme in New Zealand. The previously existing versions of the standards only catered for mains pressure plumbing, which is predominant in Australia but not in New Zealand.

The Australian WELS scheme and standards

The Australian Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) scheme started in July 2006. The Australian WELS scheme is underpinned by the joint Australian/New Zealand standard AS/NZS 6400, which contains details on:

  • Product coverage and testing (referring to a number of individual product standards for testing and performance);
  • Calculation of the WELS star rating;
  • Labelling requirements and design of labels;
  • Registration of products and required documentation.

New Zealand WELS will also rely on AS/NZS 6400 for much of the same detail, but will not necessarily include all requirements of the standard because some of these relate only to compliance in Australia.

The AS/NZS 6400 standard is currently being amended. Further amendments are expected over time as both WELS schemes evolve.

Contacts

For any enquiries and feedback or comments please contact:

For further information regarding WELS see the following links:

Further information

  • See the fresh water page for related projects, policies, regulations, reports, partnerships, guidelines and tools about fresh water.
  • For a full list of publications relating to water refer to the water publications page.

 

Last updated: 27 July 2009