2008/357/EC: Commission Decision of 23 April 2008 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)
Date: 2008-04-23
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European standard, consumer goods, manufactured goods, product safety, safety standard

7.5.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 120/11

(Acts adopted under the EC Treaty/Euratom Treaty whose publication is not obligatory)

II

DECISIONS

COMMISSION

COMMISSION DECISION

of 23 April 2008

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)

(2008/357/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(4)

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

(5)

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Directive 2001/95/EC lays down the obligation for
producers to place only safe products on the market.

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.

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

(6)

(7)

(1) OJ L 11, 15.1.2002, p. 4.

Lighters are inherently dangerous products since they
produce a flame or heat and because they contain a
flammable liquid or gas, often under 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.

intended for children. Nevertheless,
Lighters are not
misuse of lighters, especially 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,
lighters
which are particularly appealing to young children
because they have a shape or entertaining features
considered attractive for children.

throwaway products, as well as

for

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.

In 1998 the Commission issued standardisation mandate
No 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.

L 120/12

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

7.5.2008

(8)

(9)

applicable

Given the fact that the health and safety of consumers 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
the
measures
Commission adopted on 11 May 2006 Decision
2006/502/EC (1) under the provisions 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.

Community

level,

at

addressed 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 request the stan-
dardisation bodies to revise EN 13869, according to the
procedure laid down in Directive 98/34/EC (3) for the
provision of
technical
standards and regulations, and to allow the publication
in the Official Journal of the revised standard.

information in the

field of

Given the fact that Decisions adopted 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/EC (2)
extending the validity of Decision 2006/502/EC by one
year.

(14) Once the reference to the revised standard has been
lighters manufactured
published in the Official Journal,
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
the
specific
standard are concerned.

requirements

child safety

covered by

Journal

(10) Although EN 13869 has not been referenced in the
in accordance with the provisions of
Official
Directive
Decision
Commission
2006/502/EC does give presumption of conformity to
lighters which conform to national standards transposing
EN 13869.

2001/95/EC,

for

the

In view of the need to make use of appropriate technical
solutions
child safety
evaluation of
the Member States and the
requirements of
Commission,
in co-operation with the European stan-
dardisation organisations and after consultation of stake-
holders, have identified the need for a revision of
EN 13869.

lighters,

the

(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 FOLLOWS:

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.

The main problem identified with the current standard is
the reliance on child panel testing for verifying whether a
lighter is indeed child-resistant. While child panel testing
has shown to be a reliable method, it would be appro-
priate 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 (novelty lighter) 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

Definitions

For the purposes of this Decision:

‘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 fore-
seeably 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.

(1) OJ L 198, 20.7.2006, p. 41.
(2) OJ L 99, 14.4.2007, p. 16.

(3) OJ L 204, 21.7.1998, p. 37.

(11)

(12)

7.5.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 120/13

‘child-resistant lighter’ shall mean a lighter designed and manu-
factured in such a way that
it cannot, under normal or
reasonably foreseeable conditions of use, be operated by
for
children younger
its
instance,
design or the protection of
its ignition mechanism, or the
complexity or sequence of operations needed for the ignition.

than 51 months of age because of,
the force needed to operate it or because of

Paragraph 1(a) shall not apply to lighters intended to be
(2)
refuelled for which producers provide on request
to the
competent authorities the necessary documentation substan-
tiating that the lighters are designed, manufactured and placed
on the market 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:

‘child-appealing lighter’ shall mean a lighter whose design
resembles by
commonly
recognised as appealing to, or intended for use by, children
younger than 51 months of age.

to another object

any means

Article 2

Requirements

For the purpose of Article 4 of Directive 2001/95/EC, the
lighters shall be the

(1)
specific child safety requirements for
following:

(a) a written guarantee from the producer of at least two years
for each lighter, in accordance with Directive 1999/44/EC of
the European Parliament and of the Council (1);

(b) the practical possibility to be repaired and safely refilled
over the entire lifetime, including in particular a repairable
ignition mechanism;

in continual use after

(c) parts that are not consumable, but are likely to wear out or
fail
the guarantee period, are
accessible for replacement or repair by an authorised or
specialised after-sales service centre based in the European
Union.

(a) Lighters shall be child-resistant to minimise the ability and
likelihood of children younger than 51 months of age to
operate them;

Done at Brussels, 23 April 2008.

(b) Lighters shall not be appealing to children younger than 51

months of age.

For the Commission

Meglena KUNEVA
Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 171, 7.7.1999, p. 12.