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The safety requirements will be based upon well established standards recognised internationally.
The new regulations will make the supplier of a household electrical product responsible for ensuring that it complies with the safety requirements before it can be supplied to consumers. It will also make it an offence to supply an unsafe electrical product.
Explaining the proposals, Principal Assistant Secretary for Economic Services, Mr Eric Johnson, said from 1991 to 1995, 28 severe electrical accidents relating to unsafe household electrical products, of which 19 involved death and nine involved injury, were reported to the Director of Electrical and Mechanical Services.
The proposals, he said, reflected the Government's concern that tests carried out by the Consumer Council had shown that some models of common household electrical products could not pass examination when examined against international safety standards.
"The new safety requirements for plugs and adaptors, introduced in March 1995 after wide consultation and a grace period for the trade to adjust, were successful in improving the safety of those products, so the Government is adopting a similar approach for other household electrical products," he said.
A spokesman for the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department said: "The majority of household electrical products available locally meet international safety standards, but there are still some sub-standard electrical products available in the market which could pose risks to the user".
"The objective of the new regulations is to eliminate unsafe electrical products from the market."
Existing safety requirements relating to plugs and adaptors, which came into force in March 1995, will be incorporated into the new regulations.
Over 60 organisations, including the Consumer Council, the electrical trade and other interested parties, were consulted as the proposals were being drawn up. A 12- month grace period will be allowed for the trade to make arrangements for complying with the new requirements.
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