An EU directive aims to make pyrotechnic articles safer for consumers. Pyrotechnic articles are mainly used in automotive restraint systems (airbags and seatbelt tensioners) and fireworks. The sector is regulated by Directive 2007/23/EC on the placing on the market of pyrotechnic articles. This directive is particularly important for Malta due to the huge amount of fireworks used in the country, particularly for traditional village feasts. In 2010, ten people lost their lives while working in fireworks factories, including six in an explosion at a factory in Gharb.
The Directive protects consumers by requiring that pyrotechnic articles must meet essential safety requirements. It also creates an internal market for those articles that meet these essential safety requirements. In order to demonstrate that their articles comply with the essential safety requirements, manufacturers must have the their products assessed by independent testing institutes (notified bodies)
If justified on grounds of public order, security, safety or environmental protection, Member States have the possibility to ban the sale to consumers of certain types of pyrotechnic articles.
Nine EU directives were issued, covering a wide variety of products to ensure better product safety. The sectors concerned are electrical and electronic products, lifts, measuring instruments, civil explosives, pyrotechnic articles and equipment for use in potentially explosive atmospheres.
Market surveillance and customs officers can now better check the safety of products using more effective tools. In addition, Member States can improve the supervision of monitoring bodies that check the conformity of products with EU law, for example ensuring that the CE marking has been properly applied by manufacturers.
Certain provisions of the nine directives are being aligned with model provisions developed at EU level to overcome divergences in EU law which make life hard for businesses. In the future, producers, importers and distributors will profit from uniform trading conditions. At the same time this process will further improve the safety of products on sale in the EU by strengthening compliance procedures and make it easier to keep non-compliant products off the market.
European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, stated, “Safety of products is our first priority. Also, producers and distributors will profit from increased consumer trust. Moreover, EU product legislation is now starting to take on a more uniform “look”, leading to reductions in administrative burden and costs. However, it is not sufficient to strengthen the rules. We also need Member States to ensure enhanced market surveillance deterring unscrupulous market operators.”
The changes made to the nine directives on alignment relate to definitions (for example “manufacturer,” “making available on the market,, “CE marking”) the obligations of economic operators, traceability requirements, conformity assessment bodies and procedures, CE marking and so on.
All products in the nine sectors marketed in the EU must carry a CE conformity marking, which is the manufacturer’s declaration that they satisfy all of the essential requirements of the applicable directive(s). Products that are CE marked enjoy free circulation in the European Economic Area (EEA).
Before obtaining the CE mark a manufacturer has to carry out a safety and conformity assessment. The manufacturer has to establish more comprehensive technical documentation for products and must ensure traceability.
Importers must check whether manufacturers have carried out conformity assessment of products correctly and if necessary must carry out random tests themselves.