WRITTEN QUESTION E-2537/00 by John McCartin (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Safety of television casings.
Date: 2000-07-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European standard, fire protection, television equipment

20.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 89 E/205

(2001/C 89 E/232)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2537/00

by John McCartin (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(28 July 2000)

Subject: Safety of television casings

Does the Commission agree that fire safety standards for television casings being applied in the United
States and in other parts of the world are much more stringent than those applied within the European
Union and does the Commission believe that many lives could be saved each year in the EU if television
casings were manufactured to the same standards as those enforced in the US and has the Commission
considered this problem?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(27 September 2000)

Directive 73/23/EEC of 29 February 1973 on the harmonization of the laws of Member States relating to
electrical equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits (1) (low voltage Directive (LVD)) regulates
the safety of television sets. Aspects relating to fire safety are more specifically addressed in harmonised
(cid:145)Audio, video and similar apparatus (cid:129) Safety requirements(cid:146) adopted by the
standard EN 60065:1998,
European committee for the coordination of electrical standards (Cenelec). The Commission does not
develop standards, as this is a matter left by the low voltage Directive to the European standardisation
bodies.

The fire safety requirements of EN60065 are identical to those in the international standard International
electrotechnical commission (IEC) 60065. This reflects European commitment to use, whenever possible,
international standards provided that such standards are in line with Community legislation.

To-date, the Commission has not received any information from Member States regarding shortcomings in
the above standard in relation to fire safety. The Commission is aware of studies being carried out in
Sweden and the United Kingdom. According to the authorities of those Member States, the final reports
will be available by the end of this year. The issue of data on television sets being a cause of domestic fires
has already been raised by the Commission with national authorities in charge of the enforcement of the
Directive during meetings held on 26/27 April 2000 and 14 June 2000. At that time the Commission
asked Member States to provide more detailed information on this subject. The Commission took note that
Member States, are following the matter. During discussion with Member States, no request was made
along the lines of the Honourable Member(cid:146)s question.

The Honourable Member may rest assured that the Commission attaches a high priority to issues of fire
safety. The need for action will be assessed on the basis of data received as a result of this request for
information from national authorities, the findings of the aforementioned studies and any other pertinent
information made available.

(1) OJ L 77, 26.3.1973.

(2001/C 89 E/233)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2541/00

by Theresa Villiers (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(28 July 2000)

Subject: European car market

Could the Commission indicate when it intends to publish its review on the functioning of the European
car market?

Could the Commission list any documents or communications issued so far on the review of the
competition rules applicable to the European car market?