The Seventh Meeting of the ACCSQ Electrotechnical Product Working Group

The Seventh Meeting of the ACCSQ Electrotechnical Product Working Group (EPWG) was held on 15-16 October 2002 in Bali, Indonesia . The Meeting was preceded by the ASEAN Electrical and Electronic Forum on 14 October 2002.

The Meeting was chaired by  Mr. Michael Ong, Programme Director, Consumer Product Safety Department, Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board (SPRING), Singapore and co-chaired by  Mr. Arkom Kusalanon, Standards Officer, Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI), Thailand.

The Meeting was attended by representatives of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia,  Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.  Staff members of the ASEAN Secretariat were also in attendance.

The Meeting noted that four Member Countries, namely Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia and Singapore will be ready to accept test reports and certification under the ASEAN EE MRA starting 1 January 2003 and four other Member Countries, namely Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Thailand and Viet Nam will be joining them in 2003 to implement the ASEAN EE MRA. Philippines and Myanmar will be ready to implement the ASEAN EE MRA by the year 2004.

The Meeting noted that member countries have informed their readiness to participate in the ASEAN EE MRA in the EPWG Meeting. The Meeting also recalled that the ASEAN EE MRA indicated that notification should be given 6 months before implementation. In this regard, the Meeting was of the view that the 6 months notification was aimed to enable member countries to learn about the technical regulations applied for the ASEAN EE MRA.
The Meeting further agreed for member countries that is ready to participate by 1st January 2003 to retain the date in their notification.
 
In order to avoid delays in the implementation, the Meeting agreed that Member countries could only inform the dates when they are ready to participate in the notification and submit  other information when it is already available. For this purpose, the Meeting agreed to add “if applicable” on the information on technical regulation, designating authority and conformity assessment body.