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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 158 / Thursday, August 19, 2021 / Proposed Rules service light-emitting diode lamps, and general service organic light-emitting diode lamps. 82 FR 7276, 7321.
As defined in the January 2017 Final Rules, GSLs did not include: 1
Appliance lamps; 2 Black light lamps;
3 Bug lamps; 4 Colored lamps; 5 G
shape lamps with a diameter of 5 inches or more as defined in ANSI C79.12002;
6 General service fluorescent lamps;
7 High intensity discharge lamps; 8
Infrared lamps; 9 J, JC, JCD, JCS, JCV, JCX, JD, JS, and JT shape lamps that do not have Edison screw bases; 10
Lamps that have a wedge base or prefocus base; 11 Left-hand thread lamps; 12 Marine lamps; 13 Marine signal service lamps; 14 Mine service lamps; 15 MR shape lamps that have a first number symbol equal to 16
diameter equal to 2 inches as defined in ANSI C79.12002, operate at 12 volts, and have a lumen output greater than or equal to 800; 16 Other fluorescent lamps; 17 Plant light lamps; 18 R20
short lamps; 19 Reflector lamps that have a first number symbol less than 16
diameter less than 2 inches as defined in ANSI C79.1 2002 and that do not have E26/E24, E26d, E26/50x39, E26/
53x39, E29/28, E29/53x39, E39, E39d, EP39, or EX39 bases; 20 S shape or G
shape lamps that have a first number symbol less than or equal to 12.5
diameter less than or equal to 1.5625
inches as defined in ANSI C79.12002;
21 Sign service lamps; 22 Silver bowl lamps; 23 Showcase lamps; 24
Specialty MR lamps; 25 T shape lamps that have a first number symbol less than or equal to 8 diameter less than or equal to 1 inch as defined in ANSI
C79.12002, nominal overall length less than 12 inches, and that are not compact fluorescent lamps; and 26 Traffic signal lamps. Id.; 82 FR 7322, 7333.
The January 2017 Final Rules defined GSIL to discontinue the exemptions for rough service lamps; shatter-resistant lamps; three-way incandescent lamps;
vibration service lamps; reflector lamps;
T-shape lamps of 40 W or less or length of 10 inches or more; and B, BA, CA, F, G161/2, G25, G30, S, M14 lamps of 40
W or less. 82 FR 7276, 7291.
DOE subsequently withdrew the definitions as established in the January 2017 Final Rules before their effective date and reverted to the statutory definitions. As a result, the exemptions from the definitions of GSL and GSIL as originally provided in EPCA are currently maintained.
B. Discontinuation of Exemptions The September 2019 Withdrawal Rule failed to give meaningful effect to the statutory direction that DOE determine whether exemptions for certain
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incandescent lamps should be discontinued. In adopting the rulemaking mandate, Congress provided DOE with the authority to adjust the scope of GSLs and GSILs to ensure that the energy savings Congress intended would be achieved notwithstanding the possibility that, with the passage of time, different lamps might be used to satisfy lighting applications traditionally served by GSILs. 42 U.S.C.
6295i6Aiii. In disavowing DOEs prior conclusions in the January 2017 Final Rules, the September 2019
Withdrawal Rule incongruously asserted that the statutory command to DOE to determine whether to discontinue certain exemptions did not give DOE authority to amend statutory definitions by regulation, 84 FR 46667, but then failed to explain what that command does authorize. In doing so, the September 2019 Withdrawal Rule disregarded congressional intent as expressed through the statutory language. In contrast, the position taken in the January 2017 Final Rules did fulfill the intent of Congress by using the authority granted to DOE through EISA to achieve the energy savings for GSLs that Congress expected. This position represents the best implementation of EPCA given the potential for lost energy savings that may result from the use of lamps in general lighting applications that would not be subject to energy conservation standards. As DOE understood in the January 2017 Final Rules, EPCA
exempted certain categories of lamps because, on the one hand, some lamps in those categories have specialty applications; and on the other hand, it was not clear, at the time when these lamp provisions were originally enacted, whether those lamps were used to satisfy lighting applications traditionally served by GSILs. 82 FR
7276, 7277. The purpose, then, of the determination Congress directed DOE to make i.e., whether to maintain or to discontinue a given exemption 42
U.S.C. 6295i6AiII was that DOE
should assess the role of lamps of the various exempted types in the broader lighting market, bearing in mind the evident statutory purpose of achieving energy conservation by imposing efficiency standards for general lighting.
Id. at 82 FR 7276, 7277. That is, Congress directed DOE to evaluate whether the exempted lamps are being used in applications in which GSILs have previously been used.
In the September 2019 Withdrawal Rule, DOE failed to properly consider the congressional intent underlying EPCA generally and EISA specifically,
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and, consequently, failed to read the statute in the proper context, leading to an incorrect interpretation by DOE in 2019 that it could not exercise its authority to remove exemptions for certain incandescent lamps that are used in general lighting applications.
The initial determination reached here to adopt the definitions established in the January 2017 Final Rules best aligns with EPCAs goals for increasing the energy efficiency of covered products through the establishment and amendment of energy conservation standards and promoting conservation measures when feasible. 42 U.S.C. 6291
et seq., as amended.
C. GSLs and GSILs As discussed in section I.A, EPCA
directs DOE to initiate a rulemaking process prior to January 1, 2014, to consider two questions: 1 Whether to amend energy conservation standards for general service lamps and 2
whether the exemptions for certain incandescent lamps should be maintained or discontinued. 42 U.S.C.
6295i6Ai. In the January 2017
Final Rules, which addressed the second question, DOE understood the purpose of the determinations regarding exemptions required under section i6AiII of EPCA to be to ensure that a given exemption would not impair the effectiveness of GSL
standards by leaving available a convenient substitute that is not regulated as a GSL. DOE based its decision for each exemption on an assessment of whether the exemption encompasses lamps that can provide general illumination and can functionally be a ready substitute for lamps already covered as GSLs. Id. A
lamp that is capable of providing general illumination has design features that make it highly suitable for performing that task in the sort of application in which GSILs have traditionally served. 82 FR 7276, 7303.
The technical characteristics of lamps in a given exemption and the volume of sales of those lamps were among the considerations relevant to that assessment. 82 FR 7276, 7288. High annual sales were an indication that the product is likely used in general lighting applications, because the sales of lamps for specialty applications tend to be relatively small compared with sales for general-purpose lighting. Id. DOE also cautioned that sales data are not the only consideration, as it may be appropriate to discontinue an exemption even though current sales are relatively low, if technical characteristics of the exempted lamps make them likely to serve as ready
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