Planned rules on Chinese lighters come under fire

Date: 04/04/02

SPARKS are flying over EU plans to force manufacturers of cheap Chinese cigarette lighters to make their products child-resistant.

Campaigners say new draft standards, subject to a vote by national experts at the Brussels-based European Standardisation Committee (CEN) later this month, are vital to prevent hundreds of accidents and around 20 deaths every year.

The legally binding standards would force manufacturers of all lighters with a production cost below €2 - mostly in China - to fit them with child-proof features.

But the Hamburg-based European Lighters Importers Association claims the norms would be discriminatory, and could breach world trade rules because lighters made elsewhere - such as Korea - may cost €4 each to make but actually be more dangerous.

In a confidential letter, the group's president urges safety officials in consumer chief David Byrne's department to 'do your utmost to solve this matter before it becomes public. Consumers should remain having the right to finally decide whether their children need this protection or not.'

Klaus Tröber adds the new rules would make it more difficult for senior citizens, disabled and car drivers, who would be more likely to have a crash when they try to start the new lighters.

Joanne Vincenten, director of the Amsterdam-based European Child Safety Alliance, said parents have a right to expect all products sold in the EU to be safe for their children. She said the worst injuries from children flicking on lighters came from house fires and setting fire to clothes.

Estimates show 1,200 fires a year are caused by accidents involving children under 5 years old playing with lighters.

EU plans to force manufacturers of cheap Chinese cigarette lighters to make the lighters child resistant have come under fire from business organisations which claim the plans would be discriminatory.