Importers of secondhand electronic appliances risk being asked to re-export their wares or being surcharged by the state for the importation of substandard electronic appliances into Ghana by close of December, 2025. According the Energy Commission, this is to ensure the full implementation of the Energy Efficiency Appliance Regulation which was passed in 2022.
The new regulations now gives the Energy Commission the authority to enforce on laws on the importation of electronic appliances to help reduce energy wastage that contributes to pervasive phenomenon of Global Warming. The new regulation has designed a concept, the Minimum Energy Performance Standards. With this, electronic appliance importers are required to consult the energy commission to certify that the electronic appliances being imported meet certain identified standards of energy efficiency.
Most electronic appliances imported into Ghana, according to the Assistant Manager-Energy Efficiency Regulations, Ghana Energy Commission, Hubert Nsoh Zan, are used appliances meant to be recycled in the countries they were imported from.
That notwithstanding, Mr. Zan revealed that, there are a number of newly manufactured electronic products that are also substandard and shipped into the country.
These kinds of products, Mr. Zan contends, are a drain on the country’s energy situation and a toll on the coffers utility users and to a larger extent contributes to global warming and its associated issue of climate change hence the need for regulation.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a Town Hall Meeting on Energy Efficiency organized by the Energy Commission with support from UNDP at the Best Western Hotel on Monday, 7th of October, 2024, Mr. Zan shared the new regulation is more improved and will help the commission achieve its stated objective.
However, he expressed worry over the extent to which electronic appliance importers go to smuggle unwholesome electronic products into the country.
He disclosed that the Energy Commission has shared with stakeholders, particularly the electronic appliance importers timelines and the roadmap to phase out substandard electronic appliances from the Ghanaian electronic appliance market.
This Mr. Zan says will be buoyed by the commission’s ability to conduct market surveillance to ensure all electronic appliances are registered and meet stipulated standards.
Sefah-Danquah