1. When did you establish Ghana’s Standards and Labeling (S&L) Programme and started implementing compliance?
Ans: Ghana’s Standards and Labeling programme started in 2005 with a regulation on non-ducted air conditioners and self-ballasted fluorescent lamps (L.I 1815). This was soon followed in 2009 on regulations for household refrigerators.

2. What agency(-ies) is responsible for ensuring energy efficiency policy enforcement? How
Ans: Enforcement of Energy Efficiency is coordinated by Energy Commission, Ghana standards Authority and Ghana Revenue Authority – Customs. These agencies collaborate with various roles. Ghana Standards Authority for testing, Energy Commission for enforcing the regulation and Customs by assisting as the designated agency at the various port of entries.

3. Why did you focus on compliance and have put effort in building robust compliance programme? What were key aspects that were important in building your programme? What were the lessons learned?
Ans: We focused on compliance because it was a sure way to access the success of the programme and also to give confidence to the consumer on the type of products in the market. We had to build a good data collection structure and also monitoring and enforcement strategy.

4. Have you seen change in industry compliance at the beginning of the programme and now? If yes, what were key aspects that helped to shift compliance levels?
Ans: Yes, there has been significant changes. For eg, Ghana’s appliance market for refrigerators was dominated by used refrigerators. With standards and labeling, that has changed with new appliances now being imported and most importantly, bearing the labeling requirement indicating they meet the minimum energy performance standard.

5. What are main challenges that you face today in implementing compliance with energy efficiency policies?
Ans: Some of the challenges has to do with the political and cultural interference. However, these have been managed to the barest minimum.