EN    EN  COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES  
Brussels,  
C (2007) … final  
  
Draft  
COMMISSION DECISION  
of […]  
on specific child safety  requirements to be met by European standards for lighters  
pursuant to Directive 2001/95/EC  of the European Parliament and of the Council  
(Text with EEA relevance)  
EN  
EN 2   EN Draft  
COMMISSION DECISION  
of […] 
on specific  child safety  requirements t o be met by European standards for lighters 
pursuant to Directive 2001/95/EC  of the European Parliament and  of the Council  
(Text with EEA relevance)  
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,  
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,  
Having regard to Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 
December 2001 on  general product safety ,1 and in particular Article 4(1) (a), 
Whereas:  
(1) Directive 2001/95/EC lays down the  obligation for producers to place only safe 
products on the market.  
(2) According to  Directive 2001/95/EC a product shall be presumed safe , as far as the 
risks and risk categories covered by relevant national standards are concerned , when it 
conforms to voluntary national standards transposing European standards.  
(3) Directive  2001/95/EC  provides  that  European standards should be established by 
European standar disation bodies . Such standards should ensure that products satisfy 
the general safety requirement of the Directive . 
(4) Lighters are inherently dangerous products since they produce a flame or heat and 
because they contain a flammable liquid or gas, often und er pressure. The most 
evident potential risks associated with the misuse of lighters are fires, burns and bursts 
that can lead to an explosion  in the presence of a heat source . 
(5) Lighters are not intended for children. Nevertheless, misuse of lighters, espec ially by 
young children, is not infrequent and must be considered when assessing the safety of 
such products. This is particularly relevant for disposable lighters, which are sold in 
huge numbers, often in multi -packs and used by consumers as low -value, th row-away 
products, as well as for lighters which are particularly appealing to young children 
because they have a shape or entertaining features considered attractive for children . 
(6) Misuse of lighters by young children may lead to fires causing considerable  personal 
and economic damages, including deaths. Therefore, lighters present a serious risk 
with regard to the misuse by children.  
                                                
1 OJ L 11, 15.1.2002, p. 4.   
EN 3   EN (7) In 1998  the Commission issued standardisation mandate nr. M/266 to CEN relative to 
the safety of consumers and children with  respect to lighters, which resulted in the 
European Standard EN 13869:2002: Lighters - Child -resistance for lighters - Safety 
requirements and test methods.   
(8) Given the fact that the health and safety of c onsumers  is endangered , in particular , by 
the ability and likelihood of young children to operate and misuse lighters , and that 
this risk can be eliminated effectively only by appropriate measures applicable at 
Community level,  the Commission adopted on 11 May 2006 Decision  2006/502/EC2 
under the provision s of article 13 of Directive 2001/95/EC  requiring Member States to 
take measures to ensure that only lighters which are child -resistant are placed on the 
market and to prohibit the placing on the market of novelty lighters.  
(9) Given the fact that Decisions ad opted under article 13 of Directive 2001/95/EC are 
temporary measures with a validity of maximum one year , and may be prolonged by 
periods of maximum one year each , the Commission adopted on 12 April 2007 
Decision 2007/231/EC3 extending the validity of Dec ision 2006/502/EC by one year.  
(10) Although EN 13869 has not been referenced in the Official Journal in accordance with 
the provisions of Directive 2001/95/EC, Commission Decision 2006/502/EC does give 
presumption of conformity to lighters which conform to nat ional standards transposing 
EN 13869.  
(11) In view of the need to make use of appropriate technical solution s for the evaluation of 
the child safety  requirements of lighters , the Member States  and the Commission , in 
co-operation with the European standardisatio n organisations  and after consultation of 
stakeholders , have identified the n eed for a revision of EN 13869.   
(12) The main problem identified with the current standard is the reliance on child panel 
testing for verifying whether a lighter is indeed child  resis tant. While child panel 
testing has shown to be a reliable method, it would be appropriate to identify 
alternative methods for determining the child resistance of lighters , provided any 
alternatives are at least as effective and reliable . Next to this, the  existing definition of 
lighters which are particularly appealing to children (so -called 'novelty lighters') is 
open to interpretation, which may lead to an uneven application of the ban on such 
lighters. Finally, a number of other  issues  need to be addres sed to allow the standard to  
completely satisfy its role by providing the appropriate technical solutions.  
(13) The specific child safety  requirements for lighters  should be drawn up under the 
provisions of article 4 of Directive 2001/95/EC , with the aim to req uest the 
standardisation bodies to revise EN 13869 , according to the procedure laid down in 
Directive 98/34/EC4 for the provision of information in the field of technical standards 
and regulations , and to allow the publication in the Official Journal of th e revised 
standard.  
(14) Once the reference to the revised standard has been published in the Official Journal, 
lighters manufactured in compliance with the standard shall be presumed to conform 
                                                
2 OJ L198, 20.7.2006 p.41  
3 OJ L99, 14.4.2007 p.16  
4 OJ L 204, 21.7.1998, p. 37   
EN 4   EN to the general safety requirement of Directive 2001/95/EC on gener al product safety, 
as far as the specific child safety requirements covered by the standard are concerned.  
(15) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the 
Committee  set up under Directive 2001/95/EC , 
HAS  DECIDED  AS FOLL OWS :  
Article 1  
Purpose  
The purpose of this Decision is to  establish  the requirements on the basis of which  the 
Commission  may request the  relevant standardisation bodies  to amend the relevant standard  
for lighters . 
Definition s 
For the purposes of this Dec ision : 
"lighter" shall mean a manually operated flame -producing device employing a fuel, normally 
used for deliberately igniting in particular cigarettes, cigars and pipes, and which may 
foreseeably be used to ignite materials such as paper, wicks, candles  and lanterns, 
manufactured with an integral supply of fuel, whether intended to be refueled  or not.  
"child -resistant lighter " shall mean a lighter designed and manufactured in such a way that it 
cannot, under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions o f use, be operated by children 
younger than 51 months of age because of, for instance, the force needed to operate it or 
because of its design or the protection of its ignition mechanism, or the complexity or 
sequence of operations needed for the ignition  
"child -appealing lighter" shall mean a lighter whose design resembles by any means to 
another object commonly recognised as appealing to, or intended for use by, children  younger 
than 51 months of age . 
Article 2  
Requirements  
(1) For the purpose of Article 4 of  Directive 2001/95/EC, t he specific child safety  
requirements for lighters shall be  the following:   
(a) Lighters shall be child resistant to minimise the ability and likelihood of 
children younger than 51 months of age  to operate them ; 
(b) Lighters shall not be ap pealing to children younger than 51 months of age.  
(2) Paragraph 1 (a) shall not apply to lighters intended to be refuelled for which producers 
provide on request to the competent authorities the necessary documentation 
substantiating that the lighters are desi gned, manufactured and placed on the market  
EN 5   EN such as to ensure a continual expected safe use over a lifetime of at least five years, 
subject to repair, and which fulfil in particular all of the following requirements:  
(a) a written guarantee from the producer o f at least two years for each lighter, in 
accordance with Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the 
Council5; 
(b) the practical possibility to be repaired and safely refilled over the entire 
lifetime, including in particular a repairable ignit ion mechanism;  
(c) parts that are not consumable, but are likely to wear out or fail in continual use 
after the guarantee period, are accessible for replacement or repair by an 
authorised or specialised after -sales service centre based in the European 
Union.  
Done at Brussels,  
 For the Commission  
 Meglena  Kuneva  
 Member of the Commission  
                                                
5 OJ L 171, 7.7.1999, p. 12.