DLC Announces New Dimming Policy

           Dear DLC Members and Stakeholders:
Consistent with the announcement of the draft policy on April 29, the DesignLights Consortium® (DLC) is revising its application process to request information from manufacturers regarding the dimming capabilities of their luminaire, retrofit kit, and linear replacement lamp products for which they are seeking listing on the DLC Qualified Products List (QPL).
 
For background, the DLC members have expressed a need to be able to identify products that are able to dim with certain characteristics. The DLC will begin to collect and report specific dimming information to accommodate this need.
 
There will be webinars to explain the new rules regarding information on dimming performance on July 10, 2014, at 3:00 pm EDT, and July 16, 2014, at 1:00 pm EDT.
Register for the July 10 webinar at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/233798816
Register for the July 16 webinar at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/503409576

Dimming Information to be Collected and Reported
The DLC will collect and report the following information for all new products. (See attached application forms for single product applications and family grouping applications.)
1.      Is the product capable of dimming?
o   This will be indicated as “Yes,” or “No.”
o   Previously qualified products will be indicated as “Not Yet Verified,” until updated through the process outlined in the accompanying guidance document.
2.      If the product is capable of dimming, how does the product dim?
o   This will be referred to as the dimming type, and indicated as “Continuous” dimming or “Stepped” dimming.
3.      If the product is capable of continuous dimming, is the product capable of dimming to 10% or below its full input power when installed in an appropriate system?
o   This will be indicated as “Yes,” or “No.”
Additionally, manufacturers of products previously qualified may update the listings of these products with this information using the attached “DLC Dimming Update Application Form”, as outlined in the accompanying “Dimming Update Process Guidance Document.”
Due to the lack of an industry standard testing methodology to verify dimming capability and performance under dimmed conditions, DLC will not require testing be submitted to verify dimming performance at this time. The DLC will monitor industry progress toward standard testing methodology and determine if performance information should be reported and/or performance requirements be instituted in the future.

Supporting Documentation
Manufacturers will be required to self-report a product’s dimming capability, dimming type, and whether the product is capable of dimming continuously to 10% or below its full input power. Manufacturers must identify the unique model number(s) for each product variation submitted in an application with different combinations of reported dimming information. Products with different performance with respect to these three dimming characteristics will not be permitted to be represented by the same model number listing on the QPL.
The DLC will evaluate a manufacturer’s claims of dimming capability by ensuring that the dimming claims are clearly published in the product specification sheet and correspond with the unique model numbers submitted. DLC reviewers may check web listings and other marketing materials, and reserve the right to request additional information to demonstrate dimming capability if product specification sheets are not sufficient.

Timing
Manufacturers may begin submitting dimming information to update currently qualified products immediately. Applications for listings of new products will be required to include dimming information starting on July 21, 2014. Application forms, including new forms and instructions for updating currently qualified products, accompany this announcement.
Currently qualified products will not be removed from the QPL if dimming information is not updated. Instead, beginning on July 1, a product’s dimming capability will be indicated as “Not Yet Verified” until dimming information is provided.

Cost
Due to the need for DLC staff to review and process product updates, there will be a cost for relisting products with appropriate dimming information.
 
For applications to update products already on the QPL, there will be an update application fee per family group submitted, based on the number of products within each family group. The table below details the per-family application fee based on the number of products within the family group. Note that the size of the family group is based on the total number of products, including any additional models needing to be listed to differentiate dimming capabilities.

Total Number of Products in the Updated Family Group

Fee to Update Family

1-10

$                             260.00

11-100

$                             365.00

101-500

$                             445.00

501-1000

$                             520.00

1001-2500

$                             625.00

2501+

$                             675.00

 
Manufacturers may submit multiple families within one update application. For more information regarding the update application process, please see the accompanying guidance document.
 
For applications of new products going forward, additional listings necessary to distinguish between product variations with differing performance on the dimming characteristics above will need to be identified. For single product submissions, dimming variations will be allowed, along with CCT variations, with no additional application fees.
For family grouping applications, the regular additional family member fee of $25 per product will continue to apply to the number of listings necessary per the current policy, consistent with the existing fee structure. For additional products necessary to be listed ONLY to identify the differing dimming performance, manufacturers will either be required to pay the $25 per product fee, or the fee based on the chart above, whichever amounts to the lower total application fee.
 
Application forms for single product and family grouping submissions are attached.
 
For private label applications, the regular additional family member fee of $25 per product will continue to apply to the number of listings necessary per the current policy, consistent with the existing fee structure. For additional products necessary to be listed ONLY to identify the differing dimming performance, manufacturers will either be required to pay the $25 per product fee, or the fee based on the chart above, whichever amounts to the lower total application fee.
Again, for more information, including examples, please see the accompanying guidance document.
 
Best,
The DLC Team

DLC Guidance Document

Dimming Update Product Application

Family Grouping Application

Single Product Application