ETSI deepens collaboration with societal stakeholders

At the ETSI General Assembly on 4 April, ANEC welcomed the 3SI programme for societal stakeholders which was approved by ETSI members. The new arrangements provide a balanced and proportionate mechanism for addressing societal stakeholder concerns, and we await a first dedicated meeting as part of a continuing dialogue between ETSI and the societal stakeholder organisations recognised under Annex III to Regulation 1025/2012. This meeting should also discuss the precise role of a 3SI Advocate in furthering the dialogue. It also still needed to be considered whether some minor changes to the ETSI Directives are required, given the decision to remove Annex III Organisations from being part of a national delegation.

Stephen Russell, ANEC Secretary-General, commented, “The convergence of technologies makes it essential to strengthen the consumer voice throughout the European Standardisation System. ANEC warmly welcomes these steps taken by ETSI towards deepened collaboration”.

EP IMCO vote on the European Accessibility Act

On 25 April, the European Parliament’s Internal Market & Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) adopted its report on the European Accessibility Act (EAA). The report is the result of a compromise and, although ANEC welcomes aspects of the report, we regret that the vote excludes small companies and several consumer products from the scope of the proposal. The next step of the procedure is the adoption by the EP plenary in the coming months, as well as by the Council of Ministers.

ANEC will continue to press for a stronger EAA that takes into account the needs of all consumers.

ANEC comments on draft AUWP 2018

In April, ANEC sent its preliminary views on the draft Annual Union Work Programme (AUWP) for European Standardisation 2018 to the European Commission. As an observer in the Committee on Standards (CoS), ANEC commented on the previous AUWPs and welcomes the opportunity to submit further views.

We commented on the specific actions proposed in the draft AUWP, and proposed several new Standardisation Requests in the areas of Internet of Things, electronic signatures, and accessibility. In addition, we submitted general comments on the inclusiveness of the European Standardisation System, ICT standardisation, services standardisation, and the compliance assessment of standards with legislation and policies.

ANEC welcomes pledge to tackle deaths and serious injuries

On 29 March, as part of an initiative of the Maltese Presidency of the Council and the European Commission, European transport ministers signed the “Valetta Declaration” on road safety during a High-Level Ministerial Conference held in Malta. ANEC welcomes the Valletta Declaration as a further move to improve road safety.

EU-wide road safety statistics show a fall of only 2% in the fatalities recorded last year. This small fall indicates that it is becoming ever more challenging to meet the target of halving road deaths by 2020. The European Commission also reports that 135.000 people were seriously injured on EU roads. The social costs (rehabilitation, healthcare, material damages, etc.) of road fatalities and injuries is estimated to be at least 100 billion euros annually.

Further standard on child protective products

ANEC welcomes the adoption by CEN of EN 16948 ‘Child protective products – Consumer-fitted child-resistant locking devices for cupboards and drawers - Safety requirements and test methods’. These devices keep a drawer or cupboard door closed, or restrict its opening by young children. It is the third standard to be developed by CEN/TC 398 on child protective products, following publication of EN 16281 on devices for windows and balcony doors, and EN 16654 on devices for doors.

CEN/TC 398 originated as CEN/BT WG 184, which arose from the recommendations of a research project commissioned by ANEC on child protective products.

FprEN 81-70 on accessibility of lifts

FprEN 81-70 ‘Safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts. Particular applications for passenger and goods passenger lifts. Accessibility to lifts for persons including persons with disability’ is has been submitted to Formal Vote in CEN until 25 May 2017.

As reported in our newsletter last year, ANEC fundamentally disagreed with the CEN/TC 10 decision to launch the Formal Vote. Its WG7 introduced a substantial change after the public enquiry to the contrast requirements for symbols on push buttons. This change will adversely affect the accessibility of lifts to those with visual impairments. Unfortunately, most CEN/TC 10 members confirmed the decision to proceed with Formal Vote. ANEC is against the approval of prEN 81-70, with the minimum LRV point difference of 30 (Annex C of FprEN 81-70 on touch screens), because it does not correspond to the state of the art, and several countries have higher requirements.

New pictogram warns consumers not to use barbecues indoors

ANEC welcomes the adoption by CEN members of EN 1860-1/A1 “Appliances, solid fuels and firelighters for barbecuing – Part 1: Barbecues burning solid fuels - Requirements & test methods”. The amendment introduces a safety symbol to appear on barbecues in order to warn consumers not to use barbeques indoors because of the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Some consumers use barbecue grills to heat a tent or caravan, or to cook in case of rain. Nevertheless, ANEC regrets a delay in the adoption of the amendment, during which time accidents continued to happen. In 2013, we urged CEN/TC 281/WG1 to seek advice from ISO as we did not believe the then proposed symbol met ISO 3864-3 “Safety sign design principles”. Unfortunately, ISO/TC 145/SC2/WG1 was asked only later and its advice in 2016 confirmed our view that the symbol was not compliant. We were able to support the complaint symbol defined in the draft amendment sent to Formal Vote earlier this year.

ANEC Digital Society WG discusses cybersecurity

The annual meeting of the ANEC Digital Society Working Group was held on 24-25 April 2017 in Brussels. The ANEC experts were joined by Alina Iatan, Programme Manager - Sustainability& Services – Standards at CEN-CENELEC, who presented the CEN-CENELEC cybersecurity and privacy standardisation strategy. A discussion followed on how to improve privacy and security standards to the benefit of consumers in areas such as the Internet of Things. Guy Van Peel, Digital Consumption Expert at Test-Achats, joined the discussion.

Standard to help consumer (pedal) power

ANEC welcomes adoption of the revised EN 15914:2017 ‘Cycles - Electrically power assisted cycles - EPAC Bicycles (EPACs)’ by CEN.

The standard covers EPACs of a type that has a maximum continuous rated power of 250W, of which the output is reduced and then cut as the EPAC reaches a speed of 25 km/h (or sooner if the cyclist stops pedalling). Furthermore, it specifies safety requirements and test methods for the assessment of the design and the assembly of EPACs and sub-assemblies for systems using battery voltage up to 48V DC or an integrated battery charger with 230V input.

ANEC participated in the work. The new standard replaces EN 15194:2009+A1:2011 and will be referenced in the Official Journal of the European Union as a harmonised standard.

Domestic products used in non-domestic settings

ANEC commissioned a technical study to determine whether children are at increased risk of serious injury as a result of domestic products being used in non-domestic settings.

AIJU, the contractor of the study, concluded that high chairs, baby prams and pushchairs, changing tables, cots, bunk beds and baby beds are more frequently involved in incidents than others, considering the data consulted. Falls were the most common accident and the leading cause of injury to children using child care articles in non-domestic settings. Hence aspects such as stability, structural integrity and durability should be addressed to improve safety.

After the grouping of hazards not now covered by the European standards for these products, the study proposes further safety requirements and test methods to be considered in the revision of the standards.

The full report is available at https://goo.gl/dv4Vhv.

Progress on Ecodesign standardisation

As we reported earlier, ANEC and ECOS joined forces in the standardisation work related to the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Directives to represent environmental and consumer interests.

Meanwhile, work in CEN-CENELEC TC 10 on Material Efficiency Aspects for Ecodesign has started. This Technical Committee was tasked to develop horizontal standards on material efficiency aspects of energy-related products. These generic standards will lay the basis for metrics to assess a product’s resource efficiency. ANEC participates in the work on durability; upgradability, repairability and re-use and documentation/marking information relating to the product’s material efficiency.

In the past months, the working groups of TC 10 have prepared first outlines for several new standards in these areas. At the beginning of May, the national members of CEN-CENELEC approved these proposals. ANEC also supported the approval of the items and is looking forward to contributing to the upcoming work.

We are also closely following the advancements on the Ecodesign of products in the work of CENELEC TC 59X "Performance of household and similar electrical appliances" that are relevant to consumers. For instance, WG7 on smart appliances has finished its work on EN 50631-1, a standard dealing with generic requirements for household appliances that are connected to the smart grid. Next, it will prepare standards for product-specific requirements in the EN 50631 series.

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