Does GEMS (Greenhouse + Energy Minimum Standards) apply to retail trade businesses?

GEMS (Greenhouse + Energy Minimum Standards). The Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act 2012 and the product-specific GEMS Determinations made under it set Minimum Energy Performance Standards, test methods and, for some products, energy rating labelling for appliances and equipment sold in Australia. A regulated product model, identified by brand, model number and energy performance characteristics, must be registered with the GEMS Regulator before it is supplied; only one registration can exist for a model or family of models at a time, and registrations typically run for 5 years.

Trigger: Planning to supply a product model of a regulated type (for example LED lamps, external power supplies or commercial ice makers) that is not excluded by its Determination and is not already registered.

Rules Mate runs its applicability engine across 9 business structures and 6 size bands for each of the 35 industries it maps. For 32 of those industries the answer for "GEMS (Greenhouse + Energy Minimum Standards)" is no. Retail trade is one of the 3 where the answer is different: only if.

The deciding fact for retail trade businesses: Industry: Retail trade; applies only if you import or supply GEMS-regulated appliances or equipment.

About the industry: Retailers covered by the General Retail Industry Award and ACL product safety.

Compare a professional services (general) business with 6–19 employees structured as a Pty Ltd company: the obligation does not apply (Requires a trigger outside this questionnaire).

Each cell is the engine's outcome for a business in retail trade with that structure and size, assuming it sells to consumers and small businesses and holds customer contact details. "Check" means the obligation turns on a fact the industry does not settle.

When due

Before the model is first supplied; the Regulator aims to process applications within 14 days. Registration is renewed when it lapses (typically after 5 years) or re-done when a Determination's requirements are updated.

Evidence to keep

Registration number for each model (Australian numbers take the form 'AXX0000'); test reports showing the model meets the Minimum Energy Performance Standards and supports any star rating; applicant account with an Authorising Officer and Authorised Representatives; registration fee receipts; labelling records where a label is required; responses to check-testing or market-surveillance enquiries.

Maximum penalty

The GEMS Regulator responds proportionately: informal and administrative action for first and less serious contraventions, then suspension or cancellation of a model's registration, enforceable undertakings, infringement notices, civil penalty orders and injunctions for deliberate or continuing non-compliance with the GEMS Act 2012. Penalty-unit amounts were not restated here.

Regulator

See source

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth (national)

• Button + coin battery safety standard (mandatory): Only if
• Comply with Heavy Vehicle Chain of Responsibility (CoR): Only if
• Comply with mandatory product safety standards + bans (ACL): Yes
• Food and Grocery Code of Conduct (now mandatory): Only if
• Franchising Code of Conduct (mandatory industry code): Only if
• Register security interests on the PPSR: Only if
• All 16 answers for retail trade