Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Clothes Washing Machines) Determination 20121
Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act 2012
I, MARK DREYFUS, Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, make this Determination under section 23 of the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act 2012.
Dated                  25 October 2012
 
MARK DREYFUS
 
Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency

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© 2012 Commonwealth of Australia
 
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1              Name of Determination
This Determination is the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Clothes Washing Machines) Determination 2012.
2              Commencement
This Determination comes into force on the day after it is registered.
3              Definitions
In this Determination:
Act means the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act 2012.
AS/NZS 2040.1:2005 means Australian/New Zealand Standard 2040.1:2005 Performance of household electrical appliances – Clothes washing machines – Part 1: Methods for measuring performance, energy and water consumption, as it existed on the date this Determination came into force.
Note 1:             AS/NZS 2040.1:2005 is available from Standards Australia Limited.
Note 2:             AS/NZS 2040.1:2005 includes all amendments up to and including AS/NZS 2040.1:2005/Amdt 3:2010 made on 1 April 2012.
AS/NZS 2040.2:2005 means Australian/New Zealand Standard 2040.2:2005 Performance of household electrical appliances – Clothes washing machines – Part 2: Energy efficiency labelling requirements, as it existed on the date this Determination came into force.
Note 1:             AS/NZS 2040.2:2005 is available from Standards Australia Limited.
Note 2:             AS/NZS 2040.2:2005 includes all amendments up to and including AS/NZS 2040.2:2005/Amdt 1:2012 made on 20 June 2012.
Australian Standard means a standard that is published by Standards Australia Limited denoted by the letters "AS" and identifying numbers and/or letters.
Australian/New Zealand Standard means a standard that is jointly published by Standards Australia Limited and Standards New Zealand, is applicable in both countries and denoted by the letters “AS/NZS” and identifying numbers and/or letters.
clothes washing machine means an appliance designed to wash textile materials in water by mechanical action, and extract water from the textile materials, usually by centrifugal action.
Note:                This is the same meaning as in subclause 1.4.1 of AS/NZS 2040.1:2005.
PBIS means analytical grade 2-phenyl-5-benzimidazole-sulfonic acid CAS No: 27503-81-7.
standard means an Australian Standard, an Australian/New Zealand Standard, an IEC Standard or any other equivalent document.
 
Note:                Several other words and expressions used in this Determination have the meaning given by section 5 of the Act. For example:
·         category A product
·         covered by
·         family of models
·         GEMS
·         GEMS labelling requirements
·         GEMS level requirements
·         model
·         product classes
·         supply
4              Interpretation
Applicable definitions of terms or phrases
(1)          If a term or phrase is not defined under the Act, the Regulations to the Act or in this Determination, but the term is defined in a standard mentioned specifically in section 3 of this Determination, the term or phrase is to be read for the purposes of this Determination as having the meaning of the term under the relevant standard.
Note:               Notwithstanding this, for convenience to users, the key terms for ascertaining if a product is covered by this Determination are defined in this Determination.
Applicable version of documents incorporated into Standards
(2)          For the purposes of this Determination the applicable version of any document, including a standard, that:
(a)     is referred to in a standard under the heading ‘Referenced Documents’, or under an equivalent heading in a standard; and
(b)     must be applied to give effect to this Determination or a standard referred to in this Determination,
is the version of the document that existed at the date this Determination came into force.
Note:               For example clause 3.2 of AS/NZS 2040.2:2005 requires clothes washing machines to meet the water consumption requirements set out in section 4 of AS/NZS 2040.1:2005. The applicable version of AS/NZS 2040.1:2005 is the version that existed at the date this Determination came into force.
5              Specified product class covered by this Determination
(1)          This Determination covers clothes washing machines that are ordinarily supplied and used for personal, domestic and household purposes.
Note 1:            This subsection reflects the scope specified in clause 1.1 of AS/NZS 2040.1:2005 and clause 1.1 of AS/NZS 2040.2:2005.
Note 2:            This Determination covers household clothes washing machines irrespective of the context in which they are used. For example, this Determination applies to household clothes washing machines that are used in a commercial context.
Note 3:            Examples of appliances covered by this Determination are both horizontal and vertical axis single bowl machines (front or top loading), twin tub units and the washing function of combination washer/dryer units.
Note 4:            This subsection specifies products that are covered by the Determination. See subsection (3) for products that are not covered.
(2)          These products form a single product class for the purposes of the Act.
(3)          For subsection 23 (2) of the Act, this Determination does not cover:
(a)           clothes washing machines that have:
(i)            a rated load capacity of less than or equal to 2 kilograms for all textile materials;
(ii)          no connections to a mains water supply; and
(iii)        no pump or other means for extracting water; and
(b)          clothes washing machines that are only capable of being used for cold wash operations and have:
(i)            no provision for internal water heating;
(ii)          a single water connection marked only for cold water;
(iii)        automatic fill control;
(iv)        no program that indicates (directly or indirectly) that a program other than a cold wash program is possible;
(v)          a user manual that explicitly states it is only suitable for cold washing operations; and
(vi)        no associated product literature that states it is suitable for anything other than cold washing operations.
(4)          In this section:
automatic fill control means a mechanism that automatically controls the amount of water delivered into a clothes washing machine for each fill operation undertaken during the program.
rated load capacity means the maximum mass of a textile material (measured in multiples of 0.5 kilograms for each kind of textile material) that the supplier or manufacturer claims can be treated in all operations by the clothes washing machine.
Note 1:            This is the same meaning as in subclauses 1.4.11 and 5.2 of AS/NZS 2040.1:2005.
Note 2:            The rated load capacity is ordinarily claimed in the clothes washing machines product literature. For example, the operating manual.
6              GEMS level requirements
There are no GEMS level requirements for products covered by this Determination.
7              GEMS labelling requirements
Labelling and communication requirements
(1)          For paragraphs 24 (1) (b), 26 (1) (a) and 26 (1) (b) of the Act, the specified labelling and communication requirements are the requirements mentioned in section 5 of AS/NZS 2040.2:2005.
Conducting tests
(2)          Subject to subsections 7 (3) and 7 (4) of this Determination, for paragraphs 24 (1) (b) and 26 (1) (c) of the Act, the specified requirements for conducting tests are the requirements mentioned in section 2 of AS/NZS 2040.2:2005.
Quartz cell specification
(3)          For subsection 7 (2) of this Determination, the absorbance requirement for the quartz cell in subclause N 3.2 (g) of Appendix N of AS/NZS 2040.1:2005 is replaced with a transmittance requirement of between 80 per cent and 100 per cent.
PBIS limit in the conditioned load specification
(4)          For subsection 7 (2) of this Determination, the PBIS limit of 0.05 milligrams per litre in subclause M 5.1 of Appendix M of AS/NZS 2040.1:2005 is replaced with a PBIS limit of 0.2 milligrams per litre.
8              Other GEMS requirements
Product performance
(1)          For subsection 24 (2) and paragraph 27 (1) (b) of the Act, the specified requirements relating to product performance are the requirements mentioned in:
(a)           clause 3.2 of AS/NZS 2040.2:2005 (Percentage Soil Removal and Standard Deviation);
(b)          clause 3.3 of AS/NZS 2040.2:2005 (Water Consumption);
(c)           clause 3.4 of AS/NZS 2040.2:2005 (Water Extraction Index);
(d)          clause 3.5 of AS/NZS 2040.2:2005 (Severity of Washing Action Index);
(e)           clause 3.6 of AS/NZS 2040.2:2005 (Rinse Performance); and
(f)           clause 4.2 of AS/NZS 2040.1:2005 (Water Pressure).
Conducting tests
(2)          Subject to subsections 8 (3) and 8 (4) of this Determination, for subsection 24 (2) and paragraph 27 (1) (e) of the Act, the specified requirements for conducting tests in relation to paragraph 27 (1) (b) are the requirements mentioned in section 3 of AS/NZS 2040.2:2005 and sections 2 and 4 of AS/NZS 2040.1:2005.
Quartz cell specification
(3)          For subsection 8 (2) of this Determination, the absorbance requirement for the quartz cell in subclause N 3.2 (g) of Appendix N of AS/NZS 2040.1:2005 is replaced with a transmittance requirement of between 80 per cent and 100 per cent.
PBIS limit in the conditioned load specification
(4)          For subsection 8 (2) of this Determination, the PBIS limit of 0.05 milligrams per litre in subclause of M 5.1 Appendix M of AS/NZS 2040.1:2005 is replaced with a PBIS limit of 0.2 milligrams per litre.
9              Families of models
For section 28 of the Act, the specified circumstances, in which 2 or more models from a single product class covered by this Determination are in the same family, are the circumstances mentioned in subclause 1.5.4 of AS/NZS 2040.2:2005.
10            Product categories
For section 29 of the Act, the products covered by this Determination are category A products.
 
Note
1.       All legislative instruments and compilations are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments kept under the Legislative Instruments Act 2003. See http://www.frli.gov.au.