Written answers

Tuesday, 14 July 2020

Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Health and Safety Regulations

Photo of Cian O'CallaghanCian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

83. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation further to Parliamentary Question No. 872 of 30 June 2020, if he is satisfied that window restrictors on sale as separate items of hardware that can be fitted to a window after manufacture and are not covered by harmonised European standards are safe to use and adequately regulated and monitored; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15843/20]

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, stated in the answer to Parliamentary Question No. 872 of 30 June 2020, window restrictors are products that are required to be installed in dwellings where a window has an opening section through which a person may fall, (having particular regard to children under five years of age), and is more than 1400 mm above external ground level. Where such window restrictions are an integral part of the window operating gear they come under the remit of the Construction Products Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 305/2011) and fall under the responsibility of my colleague’s Department.

In relation to window restrictors that are sold as separate items, which are not covered by EU harmonised standards, these products fall under the remit of the General Product Safety Directive (Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 December 2001 on General Product Safety). This Directive was transposed into Irish law by S.I. No. 199 of 2004 and thus come within the responsibility of my Department.

Directive 2001/95/EC places the onus on all economic operators – manufacturers, distributors, importers – to ensure that only safe products are placed on the market. If economic operators become aware that products on the market present a potential hazard they must take appropriate measures, up to and including recall of the items, to ensure that the risk is removed.

Any action taken by an operator must be notified to the relevant Market Surveillance Authority: in Ireland this is the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), which is statutorily independent in the carrying out of its functions.

Where the CCPC finds unsafe products on the Irish market, it will act to ensure economic operators remove the product from the market until it is in compliance with the legislation. The CCPC is part of an EU wide network (known as Safety Gate) that allows for the rapid exchange of information between national market surveillance authorities on dangerous products found on the EU market.

Section 9 (5) of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 provides that the CCPC is independent in the performance of its functions, including carrying out investigations of unsafe products. As investigations and enforcement matters generally are part of the day-to-day operational work of the CCPC, I, as the Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation have no direct function in the matter.

Should the Deputy have any information in relation to unsafe window restrictors on the Irish market, he should make contact with the CCPC directly to provide any relevant information on these matters.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.