Joint Actions on Lighters

Since September 2007 PROSAFE and its members have undertaken joint market surveillance activities on lighters. The purpose has been to check that only lighters that are safe and child-resistant are placed on the market. The activities have involved 17 Member States and EFTA-EEA countries in two Joint Actions, and additional 12 countries associated on their own to the Actions. Both Joint Actions have been funded with support from the European Commission.

The second Joint Action started in 2010 and had a high level of activities:
• The participating market surveillance authorities have carried out some 8.000 inspections at retailers, wholesalers, importers and manufacturers.
• Customs have inspected 850 consignments with lighters from third countries upon arrival to the EU.
• The inspections have resulted in more than 5.000 lighters being checked.

The inspections have ranged from inspections of instructions and warnings over indicative tests carried out by the inspector to full laboratory tests. The results are that:
• The checks resulted in no remarks in 3.721 cases corresponding to 72,7% of the inspected lighters. The share was 69,0% in the previous action (from 2007 to 2009).
• Of the non-compliant lighters, the checks revealed non-compliances according to EN ISO 9994 in 295 cases (or 5,8% of the lighters). The share was 7,5% in the previous action.
• The checks revealed non-compliances with the child-resistance in 101 cases (or 2,0% of the cases). This share was 1,5% in the previous action.
• The checks revealed other non-compliances in 480 cases (or 9,4% of the cases). This share was 5,1% in the previous action.
• Finally the checks showed non-compliances that weren't categorised in 516 cases (or 10,1% of the cases). This share was 16,9% in the previous action.

As part of the Joint Action, 74 (selected) lighters were tested at an accredited laboratory. The results were that:
• There were no remarks to the tests in 53% of the tests. This share was 35% in the previous action.
• The tests revealed minor non-compliances in 22% of the cases. This share was 19% in the previous action.
• The tests revealed major non-compliances in 16% of the cases. This share was 11% in the previous action.
• The tests revealed critical non-compliances in 9% of the cases. This share was 35% in the previous action.

This shows that –unfortunately !- the positive trend that was observed after the first 31 tests carried out in 2011 and the beginning of 2012 did not continue when all tests were completed and analysed.

Both two Joint Actions have pioneered the cooperation between Member States and have resulted in a number of best practices that have now been applied on other Joint Actions run by PROSAFE. The Joint Actions have also seen the development of a number of tools specifically useful for those market surveillance authorities that undertake activities against lighters.

TAKE CARE !

The above results are based on a sample of lighters from the lighter market in the participating countries. As in any other routine market surveillance activity, no attempts have been made to ensure that the lighters represent a statistically valid sample of the market situation, so the results cannot be taken to represent the situation on the market in general. The sampled lighters were tested at an accredited test laboratory. The tests focussed on those safety requirements that have the largest impact on consumer safety. The test requirements in the 2011-12 tests are not fully similar to those of the 2009 tests.