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Consumers' organisations welcome the Commission's decision banning the import and marketing of lighters that do not respect high standards of safety for children.
Currently, there is no specific EU legislation applicable to lighters. However, two technical standards relate to the safety of lighters. The first, an international standard
establishes specifications on quality, reliability and safety of the lighters combined with appropriate manufacturing test procedures but does not include 'child-resistance' specifications. The second is the European standard establishing child-resistance specifications for lighters.
In order to ensure a consistently high level of consumer health and safety protection throughout the EU and to avoid barriers to trade, the Commission proposed, in July 2005, to adopt a legislation
requiring member states to take measures to ensure that only lighters which are child-resistant are put on the market. This would mean banning the sale of novelty lighters that are not child resistant. Novelty lighters come in shapes toys, such as playing cards, fishing rods or motorcycles, that attract children and are considered dangerous.
The United States introduced a child-resistance requirement in 1994. In 2002 a study on the effectiveness of the requirement reported a 60% reduction in fires, injuries and deaths caused by children playing with lighters.
In July 2005, the Commission proposed banning lighters that were not child-resistant, but the proposal was turned down by some member states, who referred to insufficient accident data, the absence of novelty lighters and the assumption that the ban would present a barrier to trade and be in breach of World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.
A revised proposal
for a piece of legislation banning the sale and marketing of lighters that are not "child resistant" was presented to the member states' experts at a meeting of a Committee established under the General Product Safety Directive (GPSD
), on 8 - 9 February 2006. The meeting' outcome was positive.
The new proposal includes evidence
in favour of child-resistant lighters and covers novelty lighters. As to breaching the WTO trading rules, the Commission's legal services do not recognise any problem.
EU member states can still produce novelty lighters and export them to countries, which do not have requirements for lighters to be child-resistant. This market is worth 43 million euro.
The European Consumers' Organisation (BEUC) and the European consumer voice in standardisation (ANEC) warmly welcome this decision that "will help avoid the many accidents caused by children under five playing with lighters".
China, which currently sells half of the lighters sold in the EU, has criticised the proposal and says that a ban of novelty lighters would be in breach of World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. The EU signed a memorandum of understanding
on product safety with China on 11 November 2005.
Previously, several EU states, namely Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Spain and the UK, opposed the ruling on the grounds that EU countries produce lighters that are not child-resistant and the ban could damage trade.
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