On 19-20 February 2020, United Nations Environment Programme’s United for Efficiency (U4E) and the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) held the “ASEAN Inception Meeting on Product Registration Systems & Lighting National Roadmaps“ in Bangkok, Thailand. The workshop informed and discussed with the participants from the ten ASEAN member countries the benefits and opportunities in harmonizing product registration activities in the region during the first day. On the second day, the participants were discussed the importance of energy-efficient lighting regulations, monitoring and testing and discussed then a detailed proposal for implementing the lighting policies on the national level.

Harmonization of product registration activities

“We are one community and therefore have the opportunity to harvest the benefits of harmonized policies”, said Mr Christopher Zamora, the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) Manager during the meeting.

To harmonize product registration activities in the region several options had been presented to the participants. The aim of the first day of the meeting was to draft a common roadmap for the way forward on a regional product registration system, which has been committed to by 37th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM). In this context, the participants were informed on the activities of ACE, United for Efficiency (U4E) and other relevant projects along with an introduction on the concept of a Product Registration System. Thereafter, the participants had the opportunity to share information on current country individual activities and were advised on the practical implications and benefits of harmonizing these activities. As Patrick Blake, the responsible Programme Officer of U4E said, “this meeting is to hear from you, the ASEAN countries, to understand how we can best support  in development of an harmonized regional product registration system”.

National Lighting Roadmaps

The second day of the workshop aimed at drafting national lighting roadmaps for lighting policies. The work on the national roadmaps are based on a regionally agreed to roadmap for implementing harmonized lighting policies.

Regional harmonized lighting policies multiply the benefits and  leverage the economy while tackling common challenges – as climate change and energy security. U4E is now supporting the implementation of the Lighting Regional Roadmap by supporting each ASEAN member state in development of a National Lighting Roadmap.

To do so, a template for a roadmap that aims to implement the regional policy was proposed to the participants. The presentation was enriched by in-country insights on the existing institutional settings and responsibilities in the region. The session was followed by an exchange of the participants on the practical implementation of the proposed template. The adaption of the national roadmaps is planned during a three-year long process.

The workshop concluded with a practical information on the financing of the planned activities.