The Competitiveness and Communications Ministry, through the Consumer and Industrial Goods Directorate (CIGD) of the Malta Standards Authority (MSA), has drafted a set of regulations concerning the safety of disposable cigarette lighters. The proposed regulations transpose Commission Decision 2006/502/EC of 11 May, 2006.

Commission Decision 2006/502/EC is addressed to the member states and primarily requires them to ensure that in the near future disposable cigarette lighters are child-resistant when placed on the EU market.

The forthcoming regulations on lighters, the “Lighters Regulations, 2006” will prohibit the placing on the market of lighters which resemble objects that are appealing to children, such as toys so-called “novelty lighters”. These present a high risk of misuse. Children may play with them and cause fires, injuries or deaths. The regulations exclude luxury and semi-luxury lighters from the scope.

Luxury and semi-luxury lighters are not covered by the child-resistance requirement, but are subject to the general safety requirements of the General Product Safety Directive 2005/95/EC, as transposed locally by the Product Safety Act, 2001 (Cap. 427) and backed up by a specific standard on lighter safety (MSA EN ISO 9994:2000).

Disposable cigarette lighters are consumer products which are inherently dangerous especially if misused by children, since they produce a flame and contain a flammable fluid. A lighter is child-resistant when it complies with the relevant specifications of standard MSA EN 13869:2002.

Lighters that comply with this standard will be presumed to satisfy the requirements of the Lighters Regulations, 2006. Conformity will also be presumed for those lighters that conform to the child-resistance requirements of non-EU countries if such requirements are equivalent to those established by these regulations.

Following publication, the Lighters Regulations, 2006 will be reviewed every 12 months.