Since rolling out a nationwide incandescent bulb phase out plan in 2012, Kazakhstan has quickly adopted LED products, according to an article published in The Astana Times.

However, the country still lacks sufficient test labs to ensure imported LED product quality, and prevent poor quality products from proliferating the market.

Similar to many other countries, the Central Asian state imports large volumes of LED products from China.

Additionally, Kazakhstan’s close proximity to China would make cooperating with Global Efficient Lighting Centre (GELC) in Beijing a more efficient way of testing product quality, suggested Dinara Tamabayeva, a public relations expert with the UNDP/GEF project, “Promotion of energy efficient lighting in Kazakhstan.”

Australia has already set a precedent of working with GELC to test Chinese products exported to the country. The country has set up only two fairly small test labs to check the quality of lighting products because of the costs involved.

Furthermore, it takes a lot of resources and finances to set up and manage test labs. Many countries in Southeast Asia have abandoned labs after a short period because of high operation costs.

To conclude, Kazakhstan needs to consider an effective strategy to ensure the quality of LED products sold on the market.