Towards accredited conformity assessment services in accordance with latest EU regulations

Domestic manufacturers of electrical household appliances could soon, instead of abroad, check in Serbia whether the energy characteristics of their products are in line with the requirements of relevant European regulations relating to energy labelling and ecodesign. This will be possible when domestic conformity assessment bodies get accredited to provide these services in accordance with current European Union (EU) regulations relating these fields.

To adequately prepare for accreditation of conformity assessment services, „IEG Industry of Electric Heaters“ from Leštane joined the project "EU4Energy Labelling and Ecodesign".

"We have often been approached by users of our heaters: factories of stoves, boilers and other small household appliances due to problems with their products, such as reduced quality or shortened lifespan. In order to protect our product, on the one hand, and to increase the quality of the final product, on the other hand, we set out to investigate what might be causing these problems. Thus, we have created a serious laboratory and established a network of expert associates from various fields who help us in this", explains Mladen Drljaca, director of „IEG Industry of Electric Heaters“. 

Today they support with assessment services their costumers when they would like to find out more information about their product in order to improve it - for example, how the quality of water in the water heater affects its consumption, how the quality of external welds on water heater and faults on them affect the energy consumption - or assist them in preparation for assessment and meeting of all the requirements of a certain standard.

The heaters of this company are a part of many household appliances sold throughout Serbia and the region, and thanks to compliance with EU regulations confirmed with quality mark "CE",  they are used by manufacturers in EU from Bulgaria, Italy and the Czech Republic. Their heaters are also used in Russia and Ukraine, and with export of all the products they are built in, they even reach Japan. 

„Examination of the products parameters assesses their compliance with reference values which are stipulated in the energy labelling regulations. It protects consumers by confirming that the product is indeed in the energy class presented on its label. For example, if the washing machine annual consumption of water in class "A" is 100 liters, and the examination shows that it consumes 130 liters – this product can not be marked with "A" class, explained Mirko Đapić, PhD, from the project „EU4Energy Labelling and Ecodesign“.

The recent project activity that supports the conformity assessment bodies to prepare for accreditation is the training on accreditation and requirements of ISO / IEC 17025: 2017 standard, which was held for employees of „IEG Industry of Electric Heaters“ in Leštane on 19 May, and in the  „AN LAB“ in Belgrade on 17 June 2021. 

The central topics of this training were the requirements that conformity assessment bodies need to meet in terms of product testing and inspection equipment, the competencies of employees who handle that equipment, workspace and working methods; accreditation procedure and assessment of conformity bodies.

In the coming period, a five-day training on the implementation of new regulations for energy labelling and ecodesign is planned for all key project stakeholders. The new regulations should come into force at the end of the year.