Natural Resources committee  Thank you very much. My name is Bruce Rebel and I'm the vice-president and general manager of the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers Canada. We are located here in Ottawa. Our members consist of some of the larger appliance manufacturers. I think you will recognize man

Natural Resources committee  Each product has its own test procedure. One of the things we were finding—and I'll use an example—is that for the refrigerator test procedure, the U.S. had updated its test procedure. One thing they had done is lowered the set point of their refrigerators. Instead of testing a

Natural Resources committee  Certainly, there are differences in terms of the environments that these appliances are being used in. In the southern United States, it's warmer, more humid; you get more condensation. There are differences in terms of the environment. However—

Natural Resources committee  It's based on a standard test procedure. The way that we use this standard test procedure is so that you compare apples to apples and not apples to oranges.

Natural Resources committee  I think the benefit of the standard procedure is that it does allow you to compare not just against like products, but also other products in that refrigerator class.

Natural Resources committee  One of the big differences between North America and Europe is the electricity system, obviously. We use 120 volts and 60 hertz, whereas in Europe they're using 230 volts and, I believe, 50 hertz. The electricity system is very different, so you can't take a European appliance an

Natural Resources committee  That's just because of the living space.

Natural Resources committee  No, they do not. As a typical example, your external power supply for your laptop computer is capable of doing that, but things like your hand blenders or your toasters would not include a rectifier to be able to deal with that different voltage.

Natural Resources committee  Certainly it has had some impact on our industry. Some of the steel and aluminum being used in the construction of appliances in the United States comes from Canada, so that does have an impact. Equally, there is an impact here in Canada in the retaliatory tariffs that have been

Natural Resources committee  Not at this stage.

Natural Resources committee  Typically in terms—

Natural Resources committee  Testing these appliances is typically done against a standard, and that standard here in Canada is developed by the Canadian Standards Association. In the United States, it's done by the U.S. Department of Energy. The testing can be done by certified bodies like CSA, UL, Intertek

Natural Resources committee  These would be independent.

Natural Resources committee  I would hope not. Here in Canada, every appliance regulated for its energy consumption has to be tested and certified by a certification body.

Natural Resources committee  Right.