[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 106 (Friday, June 1, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25448-25450]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-11793]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

[Case Number 2017-014]


Notice of Decision and Order Granting a Waiver to Huawei From the 
Department of Energy External Power Supply Test Procedure

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of 
Energy.

ACTION: Notice of decision and order.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces a Decision and Order granting Huawei 
Technologies, Co. Ltd. (``Huawei'') a waiver from specified portions of 
the DOE test procedure for determining the energy efficiency of 
specified external power supply (``EPS'') basic models. Huawei is 
required to test and rate the specified basic models of its EPS in 
accordance with the alternate test procedure described in the Decision 
and Order.

DATES: The Decision and Order is effective on June 1, 2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
    Ms. Lucy deButts, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy 
Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building Technologies Office, EE-5B, 
1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20585-0121. Telephone: 
(202) 287-1604. E-mail: [email protected].
    Michael Kido, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of the General 
Counsel, Mail Stop GC-33, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue 
SW, Washington, DC 20585-0103. Telephone: (202) 586-8145. Email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On December 1, 2017, Huawei filed a petition 
for waiver and an application for interim waiver from the applicable 
EPS test procedure set forth in 10 CFR part 430, subpart B, appendix Z. 
On March 23, 2018, DOE published a notice announcing its receipt of the 
petition for waiver and its granting Huawei an interim waiver. 83 FR 
12737. In that notice, DOE also solicited comments from interested 
parties on all aspects of the petition and specified an alternate test 
procedure that must be followed for testing and certifying the specific 
basic models for which Huawei requested a waiver. Id. On June 1, 2018, 
DOE publishes this notice announcing a Decision and Order granting a 
wavier to Huawei. This notice includes a copy of the Decision and Order 
DOE issued to Huawei.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on May 23, 2018.
Kathleen B. Hogan,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency, Energy Efficiency and 
Renewable Energy.

Case #2017-014

Decision and Order

I. Background and Authority

    The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (``EPCA'' or ``the 
Act''),\1\ Public Law 94-163 (42 U.S.C. 6291-6317, as codified), among 
other things, authorizes the U.S. Department of Energy (``DOE'') to 
regulate the energy efficiency of a number of consumer products and 
industrial equipment. Title III, Part B \2\ of EPCA established the 
Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products Other Than 
Automobiles, a program that includes EPSs, which are the subject of 
this Order. (42 U.S.C. 6291(36); 42 U.S.C. 6295(u)) Under EPCA, DOE's 
energy conservation program consists essentially of four parts: (1) 
testing, (2) labeling, (3) Federal energy conservation standards, and 
(4) certification and enforcement procedures.
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    \1\ All references to EPCA in this document refer to the statute 
as amended through the EPS Improvement Act of 2017, Public Law 115-
115 (January 12, 2018).
    \2\ For editorial reasons, upon codification in the U.S. Code, 
Part B was redesignated as Part A.
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    The Federal testing requirements consist of test procedures that 
manufacturers of covered products must use as the basis for: (1) 
certifying to DOE that their products comply with the applicable energy 
conservation standards adopted pursuant to EPCA (42

[[Page 25449]]

U.S.C. 6295(s)), and (2) making representations about the efficiency of 
that product (42 U.S.C. 6293(c)). Similarly, DOE must use these test 
procedures to determine whether the product complies with relevant 
standards promulgated under EPCA. (42 U.S.C. 6295(s))
    Under 42 U.S.C. 6293, EPCA sets forth the criteria and procedures 
DOE is required to follow when prescribing or amending test procedures 
for covered products. EPCA requires that any test procedures prescribed 
or amended under this section must be reasonably designed to produce 
test results which reflect energy efficiency, energy use or estimated 
annual operating cost of a covered product during a representative 
average use cycle or period of use and requires that test procedures 
not be unduly burdensome to conduct. (42 U.S.C. 6293(b)(3)) The test 
procedure for EPSs is contained in the Code of Federal Regulations 
(``CFR'') at 10 CFR part 430, subpart B, appendix Z, Uniform Test 
Method for Measuring the Energy Consumption of External Power Supplies 
(``Appendix Z'').
    Under 10 CFR 430.27, any interested person may submit a petition 
for waiver from DOE's test procedure requirements. DOE will grant a 
waiver from the test procedure requirements if DOE determines either 
that the basic model for which the waiver was requested contains a 
design characteristic that prevents testing of the basic model 
according to the prescribed test procedures, or that the prescribed 
test procedures evaluate the basic model in a manner so 
unrepresentative of its true energy consumption characteristics as to 
provide materially inaccurate comparative data. 10 CFR 430.27(f)(2). 
DOE may grant the waiver subject to conditions, including adherence to 
alternate test procedures. Id.

II. Petition for Waiver: Assertions and Determinations

    By e-mail with attachment dated December 1, 2017, Huawei filed a 
petition for waiver from the DOE test procedure for EPSs under 10 CFR 
430.27 for several basic models of adaptive EPSs \3\ that meet the 
provisions of the International Electrotechnical Commission's 
``Universal serial bus interfaces for data and power--Part 1-2: Common 
components--USB Power Delivery'' (``IEC 62680-1-2:2017'') 
specification.\4\ The purpose behind this specification is to help 
provide a standardized approach for power supply and peripheral 
developers to ensure backward compatibility while retaining product 
design and marketing flexibility. See generally, IEC 62680-1-2:2017 
(Abstract) (describing the standard's general provisions and purpose).
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    \3\ The specific basic models for which the petition applies are 
EPS basic models HW-200200UPX, HW-200300UPX, HW-200325UPX, and HW-
200500UPX. These basic model names were provided by Huawei in its 
December 1, 2017 petition.
    \4\ International Electrotechnical Commission Universal serial 
bus interfaces for data and power--Part 1-2: Common components--USB 
Power Delivery specification, https://webstore.iec.ch/publication/26174/
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    In Huawei's view, applying the DOE test procedure to the adaptive 
EPSs specified in its petitions would yield results that would be 
unrepresentative of the active-mode efficiency of those products. The 
DOE test procedure requires that the average active-mode efficiency for 
adaptive EPSs be measured by testing the unit twice--once at the 
highest achievable output voltage (``V'') and once at the lowest. The 
test procedure requires that active-mode efficiency be measured at four 
loading conditions relative to the nameplate output current of the EPS. 
See 10 CFR 430.23(bb) and Appendix Z. The lowest achievable output 
voltage supported by the IEC 62680-1-2:2017 specification is 5V and the 
nameplate current at this voltage output is 3 amps (``A''), resulting 
in a power output of 15 W. Huawei contends that while the IEC 62680-1-
2:2017 specification requires the tested EPS to support this power 
output, the 15W at 5V condition will be rarely used and only for brief 
periods of time, and that adaptive EPSs operating at 5V do not exceed 
10W for almost all usage conditions.
    Huawei contended that, when charging a product that is sold or 
intended to be used with the adaptive EPS, the EPS charges at 5 volts 
only with a dead battery or fully charged battery (and then at 0.5A or 
less). At other times when more power is needed, the adaptive EPS will 
use a higher voltage rail (greater than 5V). (A ``voltage rail'' refers 
to a single voltage provided by the relevant power supply unit through 
a dedicated circuit/wire used for that voltage.) Huawei further stated 
that when using an adaptive EPS that supports the IEC 62680-1-2:2017 
specification to charge an end-use product of a manufacturer different 
from the one who manufactured the EPS, it is likely that the product 
would charge at less than 10W at 5V, or may even be capable of 
exploiting the ability of an adaptive EPS to provide higher voltages 
for faster charging.
    Accordingly, Huawei asserted that the DOE test procedure's 
measurement of efficiency at the prescribed power level (i.e., 5V, 3A) 
is unrepresentative of the true energy consumption of these EPSs. 
Consequently, it sought a waiver from DOE to permit it to use an 
alternate test procedure to measure the energy efficiency of the 
specified adaptive EPSs that support the IEC 62680-1-2:2017 
specification by testing these devices at the lowest voltage, 5V, and 
at an output power at 10W instead of 15W.
    On March 23, 2018, DOE published a notice announcing its receipt of 
the petition for waiver, and granting Huawei an interim waiver. 83 FR 
12737. In the notice of petition for waiver, DOE reviewed the alternate 
test procedure suggested by Huawei and granted the interim waiver. DOE 
found that the alternate test procedure would allow for the accurate 
measurement of efficiency of these EPSs, while alleviating the testing 
problems associated with Huawei's implementation of EPS testing for the 
basic models specified in its petition. DOE also solicited comments 
from interested parties on all aspects of the petition and specified an 
alternate test procedure that must be followed for testing and 
certifying the specific basic models for which Huawei's requested a 
wavier. Id. DOE received no relevant comments in response to the notice 
of petition for waiver.\5\
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    \5\ DOE received seven anonymous comments regarding issues 
unrelated to the waiver petition. See the docket for this notice at 
http://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=EERE-2017-BT-WAV-0061.
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    Based on the information provided by Huawei, DOE has determined 
that the current test procedure at Appendix Z would evaluate the 
specified EPS basic models in a manner so unrepresentative of their 
true energy consumption characteristics as to provide materially 
inaccurate comparative data. Therefore, in the Decision and Order, DOE 
is requiring that Huawei test and rate the EPS basic models for which 
it has requested a waiver according to the alternate test procedure 
specified in the Decision and Order, which is identical to the 
procedure provided in the interim waiver.\6\
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    \6\ The alternate test procedure specified in this Decision and 
Order is also identical to the alternate test procedure in the 
Decision and Order issuing individual waivers to Apple, Inc., 
Microsoft Corporation, Poin2 Lab, and Hefei Bitland Information 
Technology Co. Ltd. 83 FR 11738 (March 16, 2018).
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    In its petition Huawei sought a test procedure waiver for certain 
basic models. The Decision and Order is applicable only to the basic 
models listed within it and does not extend to any other basic models.
    Manufacturers not currently distributing such a product in

[[Page 25450]]

commerce in the United States must petition for and be granted a waiver 
prior to the distribution in commerce of that product in the United 
States. Manufacturers may also submit a request for interim waiver 
pursuant to the requirements of 10 CFR 430.27.

III. Consultations with Other Agencies

    In accordance with 10 CFR 430.27(f)(2), DOE consulted with the 
Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'') staff concerning the Huawei petition 
for waiver. The FTC staff did not have any objections to granting a 
waiver to Huawei.

IV. Order

    After careful consideration of all the material that was submitted 
by Huawei in this matter, DOE grants a waiver regarding the below 
specified basic models. Therefore, in accordance with 10 CFR 430.27, it 
is ORDERED that:
    (1) Huawei must test and rate Huawei brand EPS basic models HW-
200200UPX, HW-200300UPX, HW-200325UPX, HW-200500UPX in accordance with 
the alternate test procedure as set forth in paragraph (2) of this 
section.
    (2) The alternate test procedure for the Huawei basic models listed 
in paragraph (1) of this section of this Order is the test procedure 
for EPSs prescribed by DOE at Appendix Z, except that under section 
4(a)(i)(E) and Table 1 of Appendix Z, the adaptive EPSs must be tested 
such that when testing at the lowest achievable output voltage (i.e., 
5V), the Nameplate Output Current shall be 2A (which corresponds to an 
output power of 10W at the 100% loading condition). The 75%, 50%, and 
25% loading conditions shall be scaled accordingly and the nameplate 
output power of such an EPS, at the lowest output voltage, shall be 
equal to 10W.
    (3) Representations. Huawei must make representations about the 
efficiency of the basic models identified in paragraph (1) of this 
section for compliance, marketing, or other purposes only to the extent 
that the basic model has been tested in accordance with the provisions 
set forth above and such representations fairly disclose the results of 
such testing in accordance with Appendix Z and 10 CFR 429.37.
    (4) This waiver shall remain in effect according to the provisions 
of 10 CFR 430.27. This Decision and Order will terminate on the 
compliance date of any future updates to the test procedure for EPSs 
located in Appendix Z that address the issue presented in the waiver. 
At such time, testing to demonstrate compliance with standards, and any 
other representations of energy use, will require manufacturers to use 
the relevant test procedure for these products.
    (5) This waiver is issued on the condition that the statements, 
representations, and documentation provided by Huawei are valid. DOE 
may revoke or modify this waiver at any time if it determines the 
factual basis underlying the petition for waiver is incorrect, or the 
results from the alternate test procedure are unrepresentative of the 
basic models' true energy consumption characteristics. 10 CFR 
430.27(k)(1). Likewise, Huawei may request that DOE rescind or modify 
the waiver if Huawei discovers an error in the information provided to 
DOE as part of its petition, determines that the waiver is no longer 
needed, or for other appropriate reasons. 10 CFR 430.27(k)(2).
    (6) Granting of this waiver does not release Huawei from the 
certification requirements set forth at 10 CFR part 429.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on May 23, 2018.

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Kathleen B. Hogan,

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency, Energy Efficiency 
and Renewable Energy.

[FR Doc. 2018-11793 Filed 5-31-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6450-01-P