A Consumer Council test report on compact fluorescent lamps has led to the prosecution and conviction of a trader last month.
The trader pleaded guilty to two counts of false trade description under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, and was fined a total of $10,000 in the Tsuen Wan Magistracy.
The prosecution was brought by the Customs and Excise Department in a follow-up to the Council's test findings on energy saving lamps in May last year.
In the test, it was found that the STARWISE model SRD-11E (Batch No.: 0809-F) was labelled with a rated wattage of 11W, with the claim of light output equivalent to a 50W incandescent lamp.
It turned out that the model was measured to have only 4.4W, a discrepancy between the rated and actual wattage of 60%.
Further, the test found the average lumen (unit of light output) of the model to be 231 lumen only, whereas a 50W incandescent lamp should generate 587 lumen according to the Official Journal for European Commission Regulation EC No. 244/2009.
Consumers are advised to choose compact fluorescent lamps with higher energy efficiency grade and luminous efficacy. The Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme (MEELS) for compact fluorescent lamps was launched in November last year.
Under the MEELS, energy labels are required to be shown on the compact fluorescent lamps with a rated wattage of 60W or below for supply in Hong Kong. The energy label classifies the energy performance of a product type into five grades. "Grade 1" compact fluorescent lamps save approximately 14% and 18% more energy than "Grade 3" and "Grade 5" compact fluorescent lamps respectively.
Included in the report was a list of 10 models under 2 brandnames that have been banned from sale in the market due to a shortfall in the length of their life expectancy between the average measured value and the claimed value of the lamps.
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