How can buyers be sure that a home appliance is what the manufacturer claims it is?

Adequate choice and use of home appliances during its lifetime brings benefits to citizens themselves, their family and wider community, which is reflected in savings on bills for electricity, water and gas, longer life of the device, as well as minimizing the harmful impact on environment.

And how can consumers be sure that a product is really what the manufacturer claims it is?

"There are all kinds of products on the market. Good and bad, good quality and poor quality. It is up to the state to determine whether the products are safe or not, whether they have the appropriate energy and other characteristics - that is the task of market inspection. The market inspection may require the manufacturer to prove compliance with the requirements of safety, energy efficiency, or any other characteristics prescribed by law, and if the latter cannot, the product will be withdrawn from the market and the manufacturer will bear legal repercussions", explains Dragoslav Djorovic, director of EU for Energy Labeling and Eco-design of Products in testing energy-related products in accordance with the new regulations related to energy labeling and eco-design: "Kvalitet a.d.", Nis, for assessment of ovens, solid fuel boilers and refridgerators, Institute „Mihajlo Pupin“, Belgrade, for assessment of space heaters; "IEG Electric Heaters Industry", Leštane, for assessment of space heaters, boilers and ovens; "Idvorski laboratories", Belgrade, for assessment of TVs and monitors, as well as laboratory "AN LAB", Belgrade, for assessment of lamps. Testing was conducted at the end of March and during the first week of April 2022.

"Improvement of laboratory capacities in Serbia for assesment of the energy efficiency of products is important because these laboratories will work for producers, but also for market inspection. The market inspection samples a product that is e.g. class "B" and send that product to the laboratory, the laboratory measures the characteristics and see if it is really a product of class "B" or another class. The main task of the laboratory is to check whether the data on the labels are accurate, and thus assure us of its quality", says Mirko Djapic, key expert of the project „EU for Energy labelling and Eco-design of Products“.

With the support of the project, the Idvorski laboratories from Belgrade finalised the accreditation of energy efficiency testing services for televisions, monitors and set-top box devices in accordance with applicable regulations, and will be the first laboratory in Serbia with an accreditation certificate for these tests.

All other laboratories, with the support of the project, have improved their laboratory capacities to the level required for accreditation according to the requirements of the ISO / IEC 17025: 2017 standard, which is expected in the upcoming period.

The laboratories, together with other competent authorities, will contribute to the buyers of home appliances in Serbia being protected on the market and confident in the marked energy efficiency of energy related products.