Plug Is Pulled On Current Eu Plans
Cenelec, the European body which sets electrical standards, has finally pulled the plug on the Euro-plug, after more than five years of wrangling over the merits and design of a harmonised system. Establishing a European single currency appears to be easier than establishing a European single plug, said Nick Glover of the British Radio & Electrical Equipment Manufacturers Association.
It was pitiful that the best plug and socket brains in Europe were unable to agree a design for a Euro-plug, he added. European business travellers will still have to pack a little sack of adaptors while makers of electrical goods will have to modify their products for different markets. Abandonment of the proposals marks a setback for the single market.
For the European Commission a harmonised plug was of symbolic importance.
Commercial, safety and technical objections - raised most vociferously by Germany and Britain - appear to have scuppered a deal between Cenelecs 18 members, which together account for 20 different plug and socket systems. Cenelec refused to reveal which countries had voted against the proposals, saying only that various technical reasons had proved unacceptable to a number of national committees.
Some industry sources suggested, however, that plug and socket producers preferred not to open their national markets to greater competition from a harmonised pan-European plug.
The news frustrated makers of electrical goods who would like to be able to put the same moulded plug onto virtually every appliance they sell in Europe.
You have the absurd situation that an expensive piece of electrical equipment can meet the necessary European standards in all ways except for the cheap little plug, said Glover.
Advocates of a harmonised system say the current situation carries costs for the consumer. You and I pay a lot more for appliances because it costs manufacturers to fit different plugs, said Simon Hossack, a campaigner for a harmonised system.
Plug and socket manufacturers believe there is little point in continuing efforts to standardise, but many in favour will urge the European Commission to continue the fight.