The federal government has released a paper outlining changes to air conditioning regulations.
Released by the Equipment Energy Efficiency (E3) program, the paper provides industry with an update on the supplementary consultation paper released in November 2016.
It includes policy proposals for the final Decision Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) to go before the COAG Energy Council in July.
The paper outlines the proposed approach to implementing the new regulations, details about testing requirements (including H2 testing), the approach to developing operating hours for commercial buildings and the final design for the Zoned Energy Rating Label.
The regulatory proposals for chillers have been put on hold, according to an E3 spokesperson.
"There are still several major issues to resolve and insufficient time to finalise them for inclusion in the Decision RIS in July," the spokesperson said.
"For this reason, E3 is proceeding with a Decision RIS for just air conditioners and will be developing new revised proposals on chillers later in 2017."
New MEPS and labelling requirements (previously incorporated in AS/NZS 3823.2) will be directly referenced in the new regulations.
Industry will be invited to comment on at least one draft of the GEMS Determination, before it is finalised.
E3 will recommend that the new requirements for most air conditioners begin on April 1, 2019.
The exceptions to this start date are double duct portable air conditioners which have a start date of October 1, 2017 and air conditioners greater than 65kW capacity which begin October 1, 2020.
CCN will publish a more detailed report on the E3 paper next week.