Laws and Regulations
Minimum standards of energy efficiency for many major appliances were established by the U.S. Congress in Part B of Title III of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), Public Law 94-163, as amended by the National Energy Conservation Policy Act, Public Law 95-619, by the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act, Public Law 100-12, by the National Appliance Energy Conservation Amendments of 1988, Public Law 100-357, and by the Energy Policy Act of 1992, Public Law 102-486, and by the Energy Policy of 2005, Public Law 109-58. (PDF 90 KB) Download Adobe Reader
To access these laws establishing federal appliance and equipment standards and DOE's authority to review, revise, and issue standards, see the United States Code, Title 42, Chapter 77, Subchapter III, Part A—Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products Other Than Automobiles and Part A-1—Certain Industrial Equipment.
Regulations are issued by executive branch agencies to carry out federal laws, such as the standards laws, and are available in the Code of Federal Regulations. For the regulations pertaining to appliance and equipment standards, see Title 10, Chapter II, Part 430—Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products and Title 10, Chapter II, Part 431—Energy Efficiency Program for Certain Commercial and Industrial Equipment.
Proposed and recently adopted rules and regulations may be found in the Federal Register and on the relevant product pages on this site.