The government in Japan has been encouraging domestic home appliance firms to produce products that can save energy. Products that fit the requirements of Japan's safety measure, S Mark, can be subsidized by the government. This has been stimulating the growth of the battery industry. International safety testing and certification organization, Underwriters Laboratories (UL), has the facility to certify products using the S Mark standards. Now, UL Taiwan can provide safety tests for Taiwan-based lithium battery makers that hope to obtain S Mark certification.
According to UL Taiwan, the market growth for lithium batteries for consumer electronics has been slow, pushing Taiwan-based firms to extend businesses into energy storage systems. Obtaining the S Mark can help Taiwan-based firms to export products to Japan. And now, Taiwan-based firms can complete the tests in Taiwan instead of shipping products to Japan.