2008/264/EC: Commission Decision of 25 March 2008 on the fire safety requirements to be met by European standards for cigarettes pursuant to Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2008-03-25
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European standard, fire protection, product safety, safety standard, tobacco industry

26.3.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 83/35

COMMISSION DECISION

of 25 March 2008

on the fire safety requirements to be met by European standards for cigarettes pursuant to
Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2008/264/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to Directive 2001/95/EC of
Parliament and of
general product safety (1), and in particular Article 4(1)(a),

the European
the Council of 3 December 2001 on

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Directive 2001/95/EC provides that European standards
established by European standardisation
should be
should ensure that products
bodies. Such standards
satisfy the general safety requirement of the Directive.

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 trans-
posing European standards.

Cigarettes are inherently dangerous products since they
produce heat and because they contain a burning
material that keeps burning through the whole cigarette
length when ignited. A risk associated with lit cigarettes,
when laid carelessly down and left unattended, are fires
with ensuing fatalities,
injuries and material damage.
Accidents of this kind have been observed and cause
an estimated minimum of 1 000 fatalities
in the
Community every year (2).

contain bands of paper in the cigarette paper, about 6
mm wide and spaced by about 20 to 30 mm. Such
‘speed bumps’ make burning cigarettes self-extinguish,
at least to a certain extent, by hindering oxygen access
to the burn area. The reduced ignition propensity thus
restricts the source and risk of fires.

The safety requirement for cigarettes should be drawn up
under
the provisions of Article 4 of Directive
2001/95/EC, with the aim to request the standardisation
bodies
to develop a standard on reduced ignition
propensity of cigarettes, according to the procedure laid
down in Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a
procedure for the provision of information in the field
of technical standards and regulations (3), and to allow
the European
the publication in the Official
Union of the reference of the standard adopted. Standar-
disation bodies should give appropriate consideration to
the ASTM E2187-04 standard.

Journal of

Once published in the Official Journal, cigarettes manu-
factured in compliance with the standard shall be
presumed to conform to the general safety requirement
of Directive 2001/95/EC on general product safety, as far
as the fire safety requirement covered by the standard is
concerned.

(5)

(6)

(7)

The measure provided for
in this Decision are in
accordance with the opinion of the Committee set up
under Directive 2001/95/EC,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Purpose

(4)

Technical solutions to prevent cigarettes from burning
through the whole length when not actively puffed
have been developed. Commercially available cigarettes

(1) OJ L 11, 15.1.2002, p. 4.
(2) The ASPECT Consortium, Tobacco or Health in the European Union.

Past, present and future, European Commission, 2004.
(http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_determinants/life_style/Tobacco/
Documents/tobacco_exs_en.pdf).

The purpose of this Decision is to establish the requirement on
the basis of which the Commission may request the relevant
standardisation bodies to establish the relevant standard for
reducing the ignition propensity of cigarettes. The ignition
propensity of cigarettes shall be reduced in order to minimise
fires with ensuing fatalities, injuries and material damage.

(3) OJ L 204, 21.7.1998, p. 37. Directive as last amended by Council

Directive 2006/96/EC (OJ L 363, 20.12.2006, p. 81).

L 83/36

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

26.3.2008

Article 2

Definition

For the purposes of this Decision a cigarette with reduced ignition propensity means a cigarette that self-
extinguishes when not actively puffed, before it has burnt through its full length.

Article 3

Requirement

For the purpose of Article 4 of Directive 2001/95/EC, the safety requirement shall be the following: no
more than 25 % of a batch of cigarette specimens to be tested shall burn through their whole length.

Done at Brussels, 25 March 2008.

For the Commission

Meglena KUNEVA
Member of the Commission