Hello Richard, This doesn't surprise me considering it has always been my philosophy that complying with a safety standard does not guarantee that your product is safe. There are always additional things to consider in evaluating a product's safety beyond established standards. This is one reason why many companies are looking at a hazard based approach to product safety.
BTW, in the United States, we have many products that are listed with Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories (NRTLs) that are recalled every year by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). However, one can argue whether the standards used in listing these products are inadequate or the manufacturers were at fault in their production of the products. Each case is different and if someone is injured as a result of a problem the liability attorneys can have a field day in court. Additionally, most Consumer Protection laws in the United States are based on bad experiences. Politicians react to these bad experiences and enact laws. Knowing this, it is interesting to see how the European Commission is handling this issue and what their solutions is for this specific case. However, one can wonder if this will set a precedent or new EU laws will be enacted to deal with these types of problems in the future. Best regards, Ron Wellman At 03:49 PM 12/11/2003, [email protected] wrote: Folks, If you are interested in safety requirements within Europe you may wish to take a look at the following URL: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/ at/2003/c_297/c_29720031209en00210022.pdf This is titled "COMMISSION OPINION of 8 December 2003 within the framework of Council Directive 73/23/EEC relating to electrical equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits - Safety of cable reels (2003/C 297/06)" You will see that the specific case referred to is the failure of Harmonised Standard EN 61242 "Electrical accessories - Cable reels for household and similar purposes" to meet Directive 73/23/EEC (the LVD) in that it "is not regarded as giving a presumption of conformity with regard to the risk of fire and of electrical shock in cases of foreseeable overload". As a consequence, the European Commission has asked (polite for told!) CENELEC to revise this standard to ensure that the above mentioned risks are adequately addressed. Until such time that a revised Harmonised Standard is available, manufacturers of cable reels will have to make an additional risk assessment in order to ensure that the risk of fire and electrical shock, in cases of foreseeable overload, are adequately addressed. Only once such an assessment has been made by the manufacturer will it be possible to state that compliance with the requirements of the Low Voltage Directive has been achieved. Finally, the opinion requires that "Member States' Authorities take account of this opinion in the context of market surveillance." In other words, the surveillance authorities throughout the EU are put on notice that they should look out for cable reels and confirm with the manufactures that they have performed the above mentioned risk assessment, in addition to complying with the Harmonised Standard. Non conforming products can of course be taken off the market and the manufacturers prosecuted. Notes: 1) If I recall correctly, the "cable reels" in question are essentially the type of extension reels for portable tools etc. that are rolled onto a drum. 2) The term 'manufacturer' above is as described in the Blue Book covering New Approach Directives. As such, it includes e.g. companies that 'own brand' products produced by OEM suppliers. Of course, the bigger picture is that complying with a Harmonised Standard is not the be all and end all (i.e. all that needs to be done) as regards CE marking. It is also a large responsibility for those involved with writing such standards (bloated or otherwise!). This is certainly not the first such case that I am aware of, but the fallibility of Harmonised Standards and the possibility of an action resulting in the need to withdraw a product from across the whole of the EU if it fails to comply with the safety objectives of the LVD may be new to some. Regards, Richard Hughes Safety Answers Limited www.safetyanswers.ltd.uk
