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The Low Voltage Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1989

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Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations implement Council Directive No. 73/23/EEC (OJ No. L77, 26.3.73, p.29) on the harmonisation of the laws of member States relating to electrical equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits. They revoke the Electric Blankets (Safety) Regulations 1971, the Electric Blankets (Safety) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1972, the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1975, the Electrical Equipment (Safety) (Amendment) Regulations 1976 and the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1977 and provide that the Heating Appliances (Fireguards) Regulations 1973 and the Heating Appliances (Fireguards) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1975 no longer apply to electrical equipment to which these Regulations apply, that is, any electrical equipment designed or adapted for use with voltage (in the case of alternating current) of between 50 and 1,000 volts or (in the case of direct current) of between 75 and 1,500 volts, except equipment mentioned in Schedule 1 to the Regulations or supplied for export to a place outside the European Economic Community.

The Regulations require electrical equipment to be safe and constructed in accordance with engineering practice generally accepted as good in the EEC (regulation 5(1)). “Safe” has the same meaning as in section 19(1) of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 except that the risk of death or injury to domestic animals or of damage to property is treated as being included in the risks there mentioned and a risk arising from the improper installation or maintenance of the equipment or from its use for unintended purposes is treated as being excluded (regulation 3(1)).

The Regulations require due account to be taken of the principal elements of the safety objectives for electrical equipment in Schedule 2 to the Regulations when deciding whether regulation 5(1) is satisfied (regulation 5(2)).

  • The following electrical equipment is to be taken (subject to regulation 8) to satisfy article 5(1):–

  • equipment which satisfies the safety provisions of standards harmonised in accordance with article 5 of the Directive (regulation 6);

  • if there are no relevant harmonised standards, equipment which satisfies international safety provisions, that is, the safety provisions of standards published by the International Commission on the Rules for the Approval of Electrical Equipment or the International Electrotechnical Commission and published in the Official Journal of the Communities (regulation 7(1));

  • if there are no harmonised standards and no international safety provisions–

    • equipment manufactured in accordance with national safety provisions of a member State, where compliance has the result that when it is supplied in the United Kingdom it is at least as safe as if it complied with regulation 5(1) (regulation 7(2)(a));

    • equipment which satisfies the safety provisions in standards published by national standards bodies which have been approved under the Approval of Safety Standards Regulations 1987 (regulation 7(2)(b)).

Equipment to which the relevant statutory provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 or of the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 and which complies with those provisions is to be taken as complying with regulation 5(1) (regulation 7(3)).

Regulation 8 (which lays down conditions which are designed to ensure that the equipment can be safely used in the United Kingdom) applies to all electrical equipment except that to which regulation 7(3) applies.

Regulation 9 provides that for the purpose of showing that electrical equipment complies with regulation 5(1) a report of a body notified under the Directive procedure may be relied upon and requires any person or court called upon to decide whether regulation 5(1) is satisfied to take due account of any such report.

Regulation 10 provides that electrical equipment is to be taken, unless the contrary is proved, as complying with the safety provisions of harmonised standards, international safety provisions or regulation 7(2)(a) or (b) where it bears the mark of a body notified under article 11 of the Directive or is accompanied by a certificate issued by such a body or, in the absence of such a certificate, by the manufacturer’s written declaration indicating (in each case) such compliance.

Regulation 11 prohibits the supply of electrical equipment which does not satisfy regulation 5(1) and of goods designed to be used as parts of electrical equipment which would, if used in that way, result in the equipment not complying with that regulation. Contravention of regulation 11 is a criminal offence by virtue of section 12 of the 1987 Act.

Regulation 13 enables summary proceedings to be instituted for an offence under the Regulations within twelve months of the commission of the offence.

Regulation 14 provides that where a contravention of regulation 11 arises from the supply of goods which involve a risk of injury to animals or damage to property (or both) but no risk to human beings the person who contravenes the regulation is to be guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction with a maximum of three months' imprisonment or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale. In other cases the penalty for a contravention of regulation 12 is a maximum of six months' imprisonment or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or both, by virtue of section 12(5) of the 1987 Act.

Copies of the CENELEC Harmonisation Documents, harmonised standards and international safety provisions referred to in the Regulations may be obtained from the Marketing Department, BSI, Linford Wood, Milton Keynes, MK14 6LE.

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