MANDATORY COMPLIANCE, with exemption for medical equipment.

CEC (California Energy Commission)
As of July 1st, 2008 external power supplies (power adapters) are required to meet Tier 2 limits. This is equivalent to Efficiency Level 4 (see table 1).

DOE (U.S.A. Department of Energy)
As of July 1st, 2008 external power supplies (power adapters) are required to meet limits called out in EISA2007 (Energy Independence and Security Act). This is equivalent to Efficiency Level 4 (see table 1). The EISA2007 national law supercedes individual state laws.

EU (European Union)
The EU Directive 2005/32/EC established a framework from which various ecodesign (energy performance) standards could be promulgated. Starting on April 27, 2010 all systems using power adapters for consumer electronics or office equipment will be required to meet Efficiency Level 4 requirements. Starting on April 27, 2011 all systems using power adapters for consumer electronics or office equipment will be required to meet Efficiency Level 5 requirements.

AUSTRALIA / NEW ZEALAND
In order to meet the requirements of regulation AS/NZS 4665, an external power supply must meet the requirements of Efficiency Level 3 (see table 1). This requirement became effective as of Dec 1st, 2008. There is an exception in the Aus/NZ regulation that exempts AC-AC power adapters from needing to meet the no load energy consumption requirement.

VOLUNTARY COMPLIANCE

EPA(U.S.A. Environmental Protection Agency)
Effective December 31, 2010, the EPA has "sunset" the External Power Supply category, therefore the Energy Star label is no longer to be used for this class of products.

EC (European Commission)
The EC has created the document "Code of Conduct on Efficiency of External Power Supplies ", version 3 is to be implemented on Jan 1, 2009. This new version coincides with Efficiency Level 5 (see table 1).

CECP (China Certification Centre for Energy Conservation Product )
Currently China requires voluntary compliance to Efficiency Level 2 requirements (see table 1). China is considering making these requirements mandatory, should voluntary compliance be shown to be inadequate.

KEMCO (Korea Energy Management Corporation)
Sometime in 2010 Korea will require compliance to the “Standby Korea 2010,” program. The External Power Supply category will require less than 0.5W input power, lack of compliance will require application of a rather large octagon shaped yellow label which states the product "fails to meet" energy performance requirements.