USA: EPEAT 

EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) is an eco-label for the sustainability of global electronic products promoted by the United States GEC (Global Electronic Council) with the support of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). EPEAT certification takes the mode of voluntary application for registration, verification and evaluation by Conformity Assessment Body (CAB), and annual supervision by EPEAT. EPEAT certification sets three levels of gold, silver and copper based on the product conformity standard. EPEAT certification applies to electronic products such as computers, monitors, mobile phones, televisions, network equipment, photovoltaic modules, inverters, wearables, etc.

Certification standards

EPEAT adopts IEEE1680 series standards to provide full life cycle environmental assessment for electronic products, and puts forward eight types of environmental requirements, including:

Reduce or eliminate the use of substances harmful to the environment

Selection of raw materials

Product environmental design

Extend the service life of the product

Save energy

Waste product management

Corporate environmental performance

Product packaging

With the global attention to sustainability and the increasing demand for sustainability in electronic products, EPEAT is currently revising a new version of the EPEAT standard, which will be divided into four modules based on sustainability impact: climate change mitigation, sustainable use of resources, responsible supply chain and chemical reduction.

Battery performance requirements

Batteries for laptops, tablets and mobile phones have the following requirements:

Current standard: IEEE 1680.1-2018 combined with IEEE 1680.1a-2020 (Amendment)

New standard: sustainable use of resources and c hemical reduction

Certification requirements

The two new EPEAT standards related to battery requirements are for sustainable use of resources and chemical reduction. The former has passed the second public consultation period of the draft, and the final standard is expected to be released in October 2024. Here are a few key time points:

As soon as each new set of standards is published, the conformity certification body and related enterprises can start to carry out the necessary conformity certification. The information required for conformity certification will be published within two months after the publication of the standard, and enterprises can obtain it in the EPEAT registration system.

In order to balance the length of the product development cycle with buyers’ demand for the availability of EPEAT-registered products, new products can also be registered under the previous standards until April 1, 2026.