EU plans to extend product-safety law to hotel room supplies

European Union safety regulations on a variety of items from televisions to mini-shampoo bottles are expected to be expanded to cover items supplied by hoteliers.

A European Commission spokeswoman said that the change would cover "all products put at the disposal of a customer by a hotelier, such as hairdryers, televisions, gym equipment - anything that the customer uses." Soap and aftershave would also be covered.

The changes are the result of a proposed revision to the EU Directive on General Product Safety that would "explicitly include products used or made available to consumers by service providers such as beauty centres, hotels or gas and electricity suppliers".

The aim is to remove ambiguities in EU law that created doubt over whether goods provided as part of a service were covered by the directive's rules, which insist on high safety standards.

A commission statement said that the amendment would introduce "new and more straightforward rules designed to ensure that only safe products are put on the market".

EU consumer protection commissioner David Byrne added: "We are trying to make sure that consumers can have utmost confidence in the system, especially as cross-border trade is increasing."

It is not the first time that shampoo has come under the legislative spotlight. Last year new labelling laws made hoteliers liable to a £5,000 fine or six months in prison if they failed to provide a list of ingredients for cosmetic supplies in guests' rooms (Caterer, 1 October 1998, page 8).

by Keith Nuthall

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 20-26 April 2000