THE Commerce Ministry yesterday confirmed it had confiscated almost 15,000 novelty lighters since the EU Rapid Alert System for Non-Food Products (RAPEX) zeroed in on the Chinese products two weeks ago.
The lighters, available in 54 different shapes including forms of fruit, animals or military equipment, were deemed dangerous as they carried no safety warnings and could be mistaken for toys by children.
RAPEX monitors products within the 25-member states, alerting all countries to carry out internal campaigns to locate and withdraw from their markets those considered unsafe under EU law.
To date, the lighters have been found in Spain, Germany, Greece and Portugal as well as Cyprus, Consumer Protection officer Marios Droushiotis told the Cyprus Mail.
Droushiotis said the government had been notified that the lighters from China had been found on the common market and deemed unsafe two weeks ago.
“The shape of the lighters could possible attract the attention of young children, who would then use them to play with, which could possibly result in a fire or even them harming themselves,” he said. The various shapes included small cars, mobile phones, seals, combs, pistols, saws, dolphins, pears, cameras and hand grenades.
“The lighters also failed to carry instructions as to their proper use, which could also cause accidents,” he added.
Droushiotis said the Ministry had carried out a similar clean-up campaign in 1998 involving lighters and that until now the problem had not resurfaced.
“During our campaign (this time) we found a lot of shops had in fact stocked the lighters. Those that only had 100 or so were confiscated on the spot. Others, however, had thousands, which our inspectors couldn’t take away with them and so they were given a legal document banning them from selling the products without permission.”
Violators of the ban or people found selling the lighters after the government had announced their illegality could face up to two years imprisonment and/or a £5,000 fine, he said.
However, hopefully, that won’t be necessary, as the local market seems to have been cleared of the lighters, he added.
“When our inspectors went out to check up on the shops again yesterday (Thursday) and the day before that (Wednesday), we found no traces of any of the 54 lighters,” said Droushiotis.
