To make it easier for the public to choose energy efficient products, EMSD operates a voluntary Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme for appliances and equipment used both at home and office as well as for vehicles. The scheme aims to save energy by informing potential customers of the product's level of energy consumption and efficiency rating, so that buyers can take these factors into consideration when making their purchasing decision.

The scheme now covers nineteen types of household appliances and office equipment. Eleven types of which are electrical appliances including refrigerators (Voluntary Scheme), washing machines (Voluntary Scheme), non-integrated type compact fluorescent lamps, dehumidifiers (Voluntary Scheme), electric clothes dryers, room coolers (Voluntary Scheme), electric storage water heaters, television sets, electric rice-cookers, electronic ballasts and LED Lamp. The seven types of office equipment include photocopiers, fax machines, multifunction devices, laser printers, LCD monitors, computers and hot / cold bottled water dispensers. There is one type of gas appliance for domestic gas instantaneous water heaters. The scheme has also been extended to cover petrol passenger cars.

The scheme for televisions has been changed from "Recognition Type" to "Grading Type" energy label on 1 March 2011 to include television "On-mode" power consumption for energy efficiency performance assessment.

To provide more information for appliances with "Recognition Type" energy label to the public, EMSD has decided to include appliance name and registration number in the design of this type of energy label with effective from 1 April 2011. All successful applications should have their energy labels printed using the new format commenced on 1 April 2011 but we have 6-months grace period for the trades to make necessary preparations. The new "Recognition Type" energy label [PDF format (85KB)] format can be found in the scheme documents.

EMSD has extended the voluntary Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme (EELS) to cover LED lamp with effective from 14 June 2011.

To further facilitate the public in choosing energy efficient appliances and raise public awareness on energy saving, the Government has introduced a Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme (MEELS) through the Energy Efficiency Labelling (Labelling of Products) Ordinance, Cap. 598.

The MEELS covers five types of products, namely room air conditioners, refrigerating appliances, compact fluorescent lamps, washing machines and dehumidifiers. The Voluntary Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme for room coolers (voluntary scheme), household refrigeration appliances (voluntary scheme) washing machines (Voluntary Scheme) and dehumidifiers (Voluntary Scheme) shall cover only the type of products not regulated under the Ordinance.