OREANDA-NEWS. February 24, 2011. Ricoh Company, Ltd. (President and CEO: Shiro Kondo) has received approval from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to name its Environmental Center's Energy Testing Lab at Ricoh Technology Center (Ebina, Kanagawa Pref.) an EPA-recognized laboratory. This comes in response to changes made to the International ENERGY STAR Program, in application procedures concerning products that target the North American (US and Canada) market.

The International ENERGY STAR Program is a regulatory system based on standards that the EPA has set to promote energy conservation in office equipment. It sets its requirements to identify the top 25% products that excel in energy conservation features, and products that fulfill these requirements are granted the right to use the International ENERGY STAR mark. The operating rules of the International ENERGY STAR Program concerning product applications were recently strengthened, and starting January 2011, EPA requires products targeting the North American market that apply for the use of the International ENERGY STAR mark to receive third-party certification from an EPA-recognized body.

To respond to this change in regulation, the Environmental Center's Energy Testing Lab at Ricoh Technology Center has obtained the ISO/IEC17025 certification (*1) that EPA demands as a criterion, and then received EPA approval as an EPA-recognized laboratory. This allows Ricoh to use results from product tests done at its own laboratory for applications to third-party certification bodies, so that it can speedily and efficiently offer North American customers the assurance of products that fulfill the ENERGY STAR Program criteria. Ricoh has delivered products that meet the program requirements and will continue to promote the use of energy-efficient products.

(*1) ISO/IEC17025 certification
ISO/IEC17025 is an international standard on general requirements concerning the competency of testing and calibration laboratories, developed by the International Organization for Standardization. Ricoh received certification from the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE) International Accreditation center (IA Japan).