21.7.2017   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 190/14

(1)

Where a harmonised standard, the reference to which has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, covers one or more elements of the safety objectives set out in Annex I to Directive 2014/35/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (2), electrical equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits built in accordance with that standard is presumed to meet the elements concerned of those safety objectives.

(2)

In June 2014 and July 2014, Germany and Norway, respectively, lodged a formal objection in respect of standard EN 60335-2-9:2003, ‘Household and similar electrical appliances — Safety -- Part 2-9: Particular requirements for grills, toasters and similar portable cooking appliances’, as last amended by A13:2010.

(3)

The formal objections of Germany and Norway stated that Section 11 ‘Heating’ of the standard includes insufficient provisions regarding temperature limits of accessible non-functional surfaces. In particular, the standard allows several exclusions to the temperature limits, authorising the manufacturer to double or not to apply the temperature limit values depending on the size, design or the surface part of the appliance, and requiring at most a warning notice or label. In this respect, Section 7.1 of the standard only requires a warning to be put on the surface with the highest temperature within the parts exceeding the limit values. The colours of the warning label may differ from international warning colours which may confuse the users. Additionally, as a result of the ambiguity of the requirements under the standard, the standard can be interpreted as making it possible to omit the measurement of the temperature rises in certain parts of a given product, which may lead to the disregard of or doubling of the temperature limit values applicable under the standard with regard to the entire product. As a result, the risk of burning for persons and domestic animals is still present and the standard as such should not give the presumption of conformity with Directive 2014/35/EU.

(4)

Having examined standard EN 60335-2-9:2003, as last amended by A13:2010, in the Low Voltage Directive Working Party, which is a group of sectoral experts, together with Member States and stakeholders, the Commission together with the majority of experts from Member States agreed with the arguments presented by Germany and Norway. Consequently, it was concluded that the standard fails to meet the safety objectives laid down in point 1(c) of Annex I to Directive 2014/35/EU, in conjunction with point 2(b) of that Annex.

(5)

Taking into consideration the safety aspects to be improved and pending a suitable revision of the standard, the reference of standard EN 60335-2-9:2003, as last amended by A13:2010, should be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and accompanied by an appropriate restriction, as a result of which the reliance on the specific parts of the standard covered by the restriction would not give the presumption of conformity,