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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 167 / Wednesday, September 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS3

Standby mode and off mode energy consumption must be incorporated into the overall energy efficiency, energy consumption, or other energy descriptor for each covered product unless the current test procedures already account for and incorporate standby and off mode energy consumption or such integration is technically infeasible. If an integrated test procedure is technically infeasible, DOE must prescribe a separate standby mode and off mode energy use test procedure for the covered product, if technically feasible. 42 U.S.C. 6295gg2Aii 4
Any such amendment must consider the most current versions of the IEC
Standard 62301 5 and IEC Standard 62087 6 as applicable. 42 U.S.C.
6295gg2A
EPCA also requires that, at least once every 7 years, DOE evaluate test procedures for each type of covered product, including RCWs, to determine whether amended test procedures would more accurately or fully comply with the requirements for the test procedures to not be unduly burdensome to conduct and be reasonably designed to produce test results that reflect energy efficiency, energy use, and estimated operating costs during a representative average use cycle or period of use. 42 U.S.C.
6293b1A
If the Secretary determines, on his own behalf or in response to a petition by any interested person, that a test procedure should be prescribed or amended, the Secretary shall promptly publish in the Federal Register proposed test procedures and afford interested persons an opportunity to present oral and written data, views, and arguments with respect to such procedures. 42 U.S.C. 6293b2 The comment period on a proposed rule to amend a test procedure shall be at least 60 days and may not exceed 270
days.7 Id. In prescribing or amending a 4 EPCA does not contain an analogous provision for commercial equipment.
5 IEC 62301, Household electrical appliances Measurement of standby power Edition 2.0, 2011
01.
6 IEC 62087, Methods of measurement for the power consumption of audio, video, and related equipment Edition 3.0, 201104.
7 DOE has historically provided a 75-day comment period for test procedure NOPRs, consistent with the comment period requirement for technical regulations in the North American Free Trade Agreement, U.S.-Canada-Mexico NAFTA, Dec. 17, 1992, 32 I.L.M. 289 1993; the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, Public Law 103182, 107 Stat.
2057 1993 codified as amended at 10 U.S.C.A.
2576 1993 NAFTA Implementation Act; and Executive Order 12889, Implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, 58 FR
69681 Dec. 30, 1993. However, Congress repealed
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test procedure, the Secretary shall take into account such information as the Secretary determines relevant to such procedure, including technological developments relating to energy use or energy efficiency of the type or class of covered products involved. Id. If DOE
determines that test procedure revisions are not appropriate, DOE must publish its determination not to amend the test procedures.
EPCA requires the test procedures for CCWs to be the same as the test procedures established for RCWs. 42
U.S.C. 6314a8 As with the test procedures for RCWs, EPCA requires that DOE evaluate, at least once every 7
years, the test procedures for CCWs to determine whether amended test procedures would more accurately or fully comply with the requirements for the test procedures to not be unduly burdensome to conduct and be reasonably designed to produce test results that reflect energy efficiency, energy use, and estimated operating costs during a representative average use cycle. 42 U.S.C. 6314a1
DOE is publishing this notice of proposed rulemaking NOPR in satisfaction of the 7-year review requirement specified in EPCA. 42
U.S.C. 6293b1A; 42
U.S.C.6314a1
B. Background As discussed, DOEs existing test procedures for clothes washers appear in Appendix J1, Appendix J2, and Appendix J3.
DOE originally established its clothes washer test procedure, codified at 10
CFR part 430, subpart B, appendix J
Appendix J,8 in a final rule published Sept. 28, 1977. 42 FR 49802
September 1977 Final Rule. Since that time, the test procedure has undergone several amendments that are relevant to this rulemaking, summarized as follows and described in additional detail in a request for information the NAFTA Implementation Act and has replaced NAFTA with the Agreement between the United States of America, the United Mexican States, and the United Canadian States USMCA, Nov. 30, 2018, 134 Stat. 11, thereby rendering E.O. 12889
inoperable. Consequently, since the USMCA is consistent with EPCAs public comment period requirements and normally requires only a minimum comment period of 60 days for technical regulations, DOE now provides a 60-day public comment period for test procedure NOPRs.
8 In this NOPR, to distinguish different versions of each test method, DOE uses the following nomenclature: Appendix letter-year of amendment. For example, the original version of Appendix J is referred to as Appendix J1977. The version as amended by the August 1997 Final Rule is referred to as Appendix J1997, and so forth.

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RFI that DOE published on May 22, 2020. 85 FR 31065 May 2020 RFI.
DOE amended Appendix J in August 1997 62 FR 45484 Aug. 27, 1997;
August 1997 Final Rule and January 2001 66 FR 3313 Jan. 12, 2001;
January 2001 Final Rule. The August 1997 Final Rule also established an Appendix J1. 62 FR 45484. DOE
amended Appendix J1 in the January 2001 Final Rule 66 FR 3313 and in March 2012. 77 FR 13887 Mar. 7, 2012
March 2012 Final Rule. The March 2012 Final Rule also established a new test procedure at Appendix J2 and removed the obsolete Appendix J2001.
Id.9
DOE most recently amended both Appendix J1 and Appendix J2 in a final rule published on August 5, 2015. 80 FR
46729 August 2015 Final Rule. The August 2015 Final Rule also moved the test cloth qualification procedures from Appendix J1 and Appendix J2 to the newly created Appendix J3. 80 FR
46729, 46735.
The current version of the test procedure at Appendix J2 includes provisions for determining modified energy factor MEF and integrated modified energy factor IMEF in cubic feet per kilowatt-hour per cycle ft3/kWh/cycle; and water factor WF and integrated water factor IWF in gallons per cycle per cubic feet gal/cycle/ft3. RCWs manufactured on or after January 1, 2018, must meet current energy conservation standards, which are based on IMEF and IWF, determined using Appendix J2. 10 CFR 430.32g4; 10
CFR 430.23j2ii and 4ii. CCWs manufactured after January 1, 2018 must meet current energy conservation standards, which are based on MEF and IWF, determined using Appendix J2. 10
CFR 431.154 and 10 CFR 431.156b.
DOE published the May 2020 RFI to initiate an effort to determine whether to amend the current test procedures for clothes washers. 85 FR 31065. DOE
requested comment on specific aspects of the current test procedure, including product definitions and configurations, testing conditions and instrumentation, 9 In that rulemaking, DOE also adopted procedures to measure standby mode and off mode energy consumption into the energy efficiency metrics in the then-newly created Appendix J2.
Manufacturers were not required to incorporate those changes until the compliance date of an amended standard. 77 FR 13887, 13932. Amended standards were then adopted through a direct final rule that required the use of Appendix J2 for RCWs manufactured on or after the 2015 compliance date.
77 FR 32308, 32313 May 31, 2012. The newly proposed Appendix J in this NOPR follows a similar approach because manufacturers would not be required to incorporate the amendments proposed in Appendix J until the compliance date of an amended standard.

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