Background

The Government of India enacted the Energy Conservation Act 2001 (EC Act) in August 2001 and established BEE, a statutory body under Ministry of Power, Government of India to implement the EC Act in 2002. The Act identifies S&L as one of the major program areas for improving energy efficiency in the residential, commercial, and industrial sector. BEE launched the S&L program in May 2006 and currently it covers 30 product categories of which 11 are mandatory products.

Timeline

Project Timeframe: February 2023 – 30th June 2023

Deadline for Application: 18 January 2023 at 23:59 ET

Application includes registering as a Consulting Partner and submitting the technical and financial proposals per the instructions below.

Deadline for Questions: 09 January 2023 at 23:59 ET

All questions must be addressed in English to Sumedha Awasthy at sawasthy@clasp.ngo. We request all inquiries be made to this e-mail address and not by phone.

Scope of Work

CLASP is seeking a consulting organization to closely interact with stakeholders of e-commerce platform owners, product manufacturers, consumer organizations, and bulk buyers, for disclosure of energy efficiency performance information of labeled products sold online, leading to increased sales of labeled products and improved policy effectiveness. The scope of work is provided below.

Task 1: Review of international best practices on display of labels and associated energy performance information of labeled products on e-commerce platforms

• How online labels are currently developed or sourced in different countries
• Are there any regulations being following around the online labeling program
• Who are the responsible agencies to monitor the online label activity whether it is the retailer, manufacturer, regulator, civil societies or policy makers

Task 2: Analysis of current practices in India for the display of label and associated energy performance information of labeled products sold online on e-commerce platforms  

• Conduct a survey and/or use web scraping tools to understand existing practices for all mandatory products. The total sample size for the analysis will be 10000. The approach and the methodology will be finalized in close consultation with CLASP.
• Efforts should be made to capture almost all the brands sold online
• Assess the level of non-compliance on the online market for these products;
• Assess the impacts of non-compliance for these products;
• Identify the main types of non-compliance;
• Identify the reasons for non-compliance; and
• Propose recommendations to optimise compliance on the online market
• Review BEE’s guidelines and Act to understand online labeling requirements if any.  
• Analyze the results and share findings  

Task 3: A consultation with relevant stakeholders, including e-commerce platform owners

• Conduct a survey of market participants, including manufacturers, vendors, importers, and retailers, to understand how the supply chain works, the responsibilities of each stakeholder

 Task 4: Provide recommendations on international best practices, analysis, survey and share the formulated guidelines which can be adopted by BEE

• Propose recommendations on the formulation of guidelines for display for labels on the products sold on e-commerce platforms
• Analysis of all research, findings and develop guidelines and SOP for effective monitoring on compliance with EC Act for all e-commerce platforms and how it can be integrated with the notification for each product

Key Milestones and Deliverables

The project will be conducted in close collaboration with CLASP team. In addition, the consultant is expected to participate in periodic update meetings/calls and provide timely and detailed responses to questions and comments from CLASP team members related to this project. Deliverables include:

1. A report covering approach and methodology, international best practices, any assumptions and estimates, survey analysis, providing key conclusions and recommendations
2. Propose recommendations on the formulation of guidelines for display for labels on the products sold on e-commerce platforms

Key Qualifications

• The organization should have overall knowledge and expertise in the energy sector, energy-saving, market analysis and conducting surveys.
• The organization should have experience on web scraping and advance analytical tools
• The organization should have a local presence preferably in Delhi and NCR.