Two-thirds of gas appliances fail EU tests

An EU-funded test of selected gas appliances, such as barbecues, gas cookers and camping stoves, found that 73 per cent of them did not meet EU requirements regarding performance and product documentation. This was the result of a testing campaign organised by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW).

Market surveillance authorities tested 74 products: 35 barbecues with or without side burners, 23 camping stoves and 16 gas cookers. They were purchased in 13 countries in shops and online for an average price of €170. The products were tested for compliance with EU standards for gas appliances, which cover criteria such as design, performance, safety and labelling.

Most of the non-conformities (23 samples; 31 per cent) were due to missing formal documentation or labelling on the product or packaging. The remaining non-conformities (31 samples; 42 per cent) concerned performance issues, the most common of which related to safety at high temperatures – mainly in camping stoves. For the other two product types, the most common defects were cross-ignition, operational safety and temperature.

Of the 54 non-compliant appliances, 37 were classified as low risk, five as medium risk, four as high risk, one as serious risk and one as no risk, whilst the assessment of the remaining samples is not yet complete.