The International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and the Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) are engaged in a Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program (CLASP), a global program aimed to disseminate information on standards and labeling (S&L). The program will include a guidebook for policy makers, a web-based information clearinghouse, a policymaker toolkit, and regional conferences in Latin America and Asia. The first step in this program was to conduct an international needs survey. The survey was designed to assess the information needs of the people who are or will be involved in establishing standards and labeling programs in their specific countries.

Sponsored by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), IIEC sent 165 surveys via fax, mail and e-mail to government agencies, test laboratories, utilities, universities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), financial institutions, and private sector firms in Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Pacific. The targeted sample frame was the contacts that IIEC, LBNL, and ASE have made in developing countries and economies of transition over the past decade. For this reason, and the fact that the majority of respondents (62%) were from Asia, this assessment should not be viewed as a comprehensive international assessment, but rather as indicative of policymaker information needs on standards and labeling.

Overall, respondents showed a high level of interest in the CLASP information dissemination program. Additional comments and written expressions of enthusiasm on cover letters that accompanied the completed surveys revealed strong support for the initiative. The survey results can help CLASP direct its efforts into the most effective means of information dissemination and the most useful information topics.

Authors: Peter du Pont and Sood R. Na Phuket

Information from: International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC)