Beware of dangerous Christmas lights

By Andrea Petranyi

THE Commerce Ministry yesterday warned consumers against dangerous Christmas tree lights.

The Consumer Protection Services of the Ministry issued a warning giving details of unsafe Christmas tree lights that could be a fire hazard.

A number of complaints have already been made to the Cyprus Consumer Association, whose director Christoforos Ioannides told the Cyprus Mail the Ministry had already sent experts to remove the dangerous lights from the market.

However, since there are only five people qualified to do so, a number of these lights may still be available for sale, Ioannides said.

He added that a number of electrical appliances sold in stores still used an illegal plugging system.

The dangerous lights include product number CD20/IF, made in China and coming in a green box of 20, and product number BN-20 in a red box of 20.

They also warn against a package of 140 lights which come in white box decorated with Christmas trees. The lights are of different colours, and the language on the box is Portuguese, though no country of origin is specified.

A set of musical lights has also been targeted by the Ministry as hazardous: the lights in question come in a red box of 100 lights.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.