Singapore introduces water efficiency labels for dishwashers

Public Utilities (Water Supply) Regulations will be amended to require dishwashers intended for household use that are supplied or offered, displayed, or advertised for supply in Singapore to be registered and affixed with water efficiency labels from 1 Oct 2018.

Singapore's Mandatory Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme (Mandatory WELS) was introduced in 2009 to help consumers make more informed purchasing decisions and encourage suppliers to introduce more water efficient products into the market. This scheme will be extended to include dishwashers with effect from 1 Oct 2018.

Import of dishwashers to Singapore is still allowed with the implementation of the Mandatory WELS for dishwashers, but all dishwashers intended for household use must be registered and labelled to provide information on their water efficiency level before they can be supplied or offered, displayed, or advertised for supply in Singapore. In order to register, the appliances must be tested according to the stipulated standards (Clause 8.2 of BS EN 50242: 2016/BS EN 60436: 2016 or Clause 8.2 of IEC 60436: 2015), which would be used to determine their water consumption efficiency.

Dishwashers in Singapore will be rated with minimum 1-tick, 2-ticks, 3-ticks or 4-ticks water efficiency rating, with 4-ticks being the most water efficient. There is no model currently in the Singapore market which uses more water than the 1-tick model. 

Link to Singapore's WTO notification