For energy efficiency regulations and labelling schemes to be effective, it is vital to have a robust and comprehensive system for monitoring the quantities of products sold in the market. Customs data, based on the World Customs Organization (WCO) commodity classification system can provide a metric for this.
This Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (Harmonized System) provides an opportunity for enhanced monitoring of lighting product import data, allowing countries to:
- Monitor trends over time for imported products.
- Apply real data to policy development.
- Boost regional harmonization amongst trading partners/countries by sharing import/export volume data in significant detail for lighting products.
- Improve the effectiveness of Monitoring, Verification and Enforcement (MVE) and Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) activities for controlled goods.
- Deploy customs/economic mechanisms, such as internal taxes, trade policies, freight tariffs, quota controls, compilation of national accounts etc.