International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Candle Standard for Electronics

Since 2002, the chemical industry has continued to promote unneeded international flammability standards for consumer electronic housings. GSP white papers contributed to stopping five such standards and prevented the use of hundreds of millions of pounds of flame retardants. However, chemical industry representatives have promoted and passed a European standard requiring flame retardant chemicals in TV enclosures, even though an international standard was voted down. Associate GSP Director Mike Kirschner attended a meeting in Frankfurt in spring 2009 to represent the European Environmental Citizens Organization for Standardization (ECOS), and pointed out the limitations of the data from the flame retardant chemical industry that had been presented.

White Papers and Related Information:
The Case against Candle Resistant Electronics - One Page Summary
The Case against Candle Resistant Electronics: Whitepaper
The Case against Candle Resistant TVs: Whitepaper
ChemSec Position Paper IEC62368-080226
Fire Fighters Letter
When Product Safety and the Environment Appear to Collide: The Defeat of the Candle Flame Ignition Requirement