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Verification Overview
In the EPEAT system,
manufacturers add their products to the registry by declaring that the
products meet (or don’t meet) individual criteria of IEEE 1680. As with Energy Star and other
voluntary declaration programs, there is no verification of this
declaration at the time the product is registered. This ensures that new products
appear on the registry as soon as they are released, with no delay in
time-to-market, and also keeps the cost of operating EPEAT
down.
In order to maintain the
credibility of the declarations, EPEAT periodically selects products from
the registry and verifies that they actually meet the criteria as
declared. Verification is performed on a batch of products and criteria
called a “round”. The
verification process may simply require the manufacturer to provide
production, lab analysis or other data, but may also entail EPEAT
independently obtaining products and inspecting them -- even performing
detailed laboratory analysis or destructive disassembly.
All criteria of all products
on the registry are subject to verification at any time. Stakeholders are encouraged to
contact EPEAT if they have good reason to doubt the veracity of a
declaration.
While EPEAT will work with
manufacturers to correct or clarify a declaration, if a manufacturer is
found over time to be an untrustworthy user, they may be barred from using
the EPEAT system.
More detail on the verification
process
Verification reporting
The results of each round of
verification are published in two forms:
1) A statistical report
identifying the criteria that were investigated, the number of
investigations performed, the guidelines with which products were
selected, and the statistical results, and
2) A report that is
distributed to purchasers and others who have signed up to receive it,
that identifies the products that were affected by verification
actions.
EPEAT Verification Round Reports
Verification Personnel
Two different independent
parties are involved in EPEAT verification.
Product Verification
Committee
The Product Verification
Committee or “PVC” oversees the verification process, develops and
approves the plan for each verification round, and makes the final
decisions regarding each product’s conformance or nonconformance to each
criterion.
The members of the PVC are
independent experts on electronics and the environment and are contractors
to EPEAT. Their pay is
independent of their decisions, they are required to maintain independence
from any EPEAT subscribing manufacturers, and they are generally blind to
the identity of the products and manufacturers they are deciding.
Qualified Verifiers
Each specific investigation
is assigned to a Qualified Verifier (QV). The QV obtains and evaluates the
data and makes a recommendation of conformance or nonconformance for
review by the PVC. QVs are
independent experts on electronics and the environment on contract to
EPEAT; they are required to maintain independence from EPEAT-subscribing
manufacturers, and their pay is independent of their recommendations. QV’s
usually communicate with manufacturers to obtain the information they need
to complete verification processes.
Contacting
verifiers: To maintain their independence,
stakeholders are discouraged from contacting the Product Verification
Committee or individual Verifiers directly regarding EPEAT and
verification. They may be
contacted through EPEAT if needed.
Current Verification Status
EPEAT was launched in July
of 2006 and the first round of verification was initiated on 6 March
2007. The first round has been completed and the results are
contained in the report Round
One Verification Results Statistical Report.
For the first round of verification only, because some of the
declaration errors may have resulted from incomplete understanding of the
criteria, the report does not identify the affected products and
manufacturers. Future rounds of verification will identify all affected
products and manufacturers. Round Two Verification was begun on December
20, 2007.
Verification Documents
General Documents
Round One Documents
Round Two Documents
Verification Clarifications Reports
Clarifications Reports are documents
issued by EPEAT and/or the PVC, usually in response to questions posed by
subscribing manufacturers when they declare their products, that are intended
to clarify how EPEAT and the PVC interpret certain requirements of IEEE 1680.
Verification Process Details
Verifications
are typically performed in batches called “rounds,” so that they can be
carefully planned to maximize the coverage within a given budget. Some products
and criteria are selected essentially at random but many are selected because
they are considered difficult to meet or are particularly environmentally
important. The selections are also
influenced by the results of previous verifications and by credible input that
we receive from purchasers or other interested parties. Stakeholders are encouraged to contact EPEAT
if they have good reason to doubt the veracity of a declaration.
When a
round of verifications is launched a “snapshot” is taken of the product
registry and verification proceeds to its conclusion based on the products and
declarations on the registry at that time.
Each investigation (the checking of one criterion of one product)
generally results in a finding of conformance or of non-conformance. Manufacturers have opportunities to correct
problems that are found, but ultimately if a manufacturer is unable to
adequately demonstrate conformance they are compelled to correct the
declaration. This may result in the product
becoming unregistered or may simply reduce the number of optional points toward
EPEAT Silver or Gold for that product.
If a manufacturer is found over time to not be a trustworthy user they
may be barred from using the EPEAT system.
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