DUSHANBE, July 11, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Jourakhon Rahimov, an official with Tojikstandart (Tajik state agency for standardization, metrology, certification and trade inspection), told a press conference in Dushanbe on July 10 that a new lab for testing electrical appliances has been opened at Tojikstandart.

According to him, the lab is provided with technology that allows testing energy-saving light bulbs, also known as compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), as well.

“Today, one can see CFls from Russia, Iran, India and Turkey in markets in Tajikistan; however, the great bulk comes from China,” said Rahimov, “We have already tested a number of consignments of CFLs delivered from China.  One cannot say that Chinese CFLs are of low quality and the Russian ones are of good quality.  Compliance of goods with standards depends on company producing them rather then producer country.”

In the meantime, the Tojikstandart head Davlatali Hotamov noted that four cases of realization of low-quality CFLs had been registered in the country and 18,000 CFLs had been taken out of realization.

We will recall that a decree requiring nationwide shift to the energy-saving light bulbs beginning on May 1, 2009 was signed by the president on April 24 this year.  The government, local authorities, organizations and enterprises irrespective of forms of property were charged to provide switch to the energy-saving light bulbs by the end of this year.

An energy-saving light is a type of fluorescent lamp.  Experts say that compared to general service incandescent lamps giving the same amount of visible light, CFLs generally use less power, have a longer rated life, but a higher purchase price. The average rated life of a CFL is between 8 and 15 times that of incandescents.