Presentation to the European Fire Academy Roundtable Paris, 31 January 2008

Creation July 2007  Association des Brûlés de France (ABF) & Pinocchio (Belgium) to create European network of nationally-based burns victims associations  Working group of EFA  Charter adopted – establishes objectives of network  All associations in network to be not-for-profit organisations  Network open to specialists and representative burns victims associations  Participants to share experiences and ideas  Bring together voices to speak for burns victims across Europe

December 2007  Decision to make the network official  Creation of European Burns Casualties Association – EBCA  International association under Belgian law (aisbl) Creation

Objectives Voice concerns of burns victims in the EU Raise awareness of importance of fire safety and burns prevention in EU institutions: European Commission Council of the EU European Parliament + in member states Prevention to reduce number of people that suffer burns Improve medical and non-medical care, including rehabilitation

Current actions  Gain support for EBCA’s objectives from EU institutions European Parliament  October 2007: meeting with Marianne Thyssen MEP (Belgian Christian democrat)  Happy to be patron of the association  Happy to present burn victims issues and concerns to the Commission  At our request, she drafted a parliamentary question to the Commission calling for action on upholstered furniture

Donations  EBCA will be financed by donations from bodies interested in prevention against burns  In the initial phase, the programme receives its financial support from the flame retardants industry

Next steps  Continue to gain support from EU institutions for EBCA, its concerns and issues  Register association under Belgian law  Extend membership to other national associations  Organise launch event

Presentation to the European Fire Academy Roundtable Paris, 31 January 2008

Annex: Parliamentary question by Marianne Thyssen Subject: Fire safety of upholstered furniture In 1990, the Commission gave the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) a remit to develop a standard method for testing the fire resistance/ignitability of upholstered furniture. The CEN developed a standard procedure for assessing the ignitability of upholstered furniture using as ignition sources on the one hand a smouldering cigarette (CEN EN 1021 ‑ 1) and on the other hand a match flame equivalent (CEN EN 1021 ‑ 2). The Member States introduced both standards for voluntary application. In addition, the Commission gave the CEN a further remit, this time to assess the post-ignition behaviour of upholstered furniture, i.e. how quickly foam in the furniture burns or ceases to burn. If all had gone according to plan, this ought to have led to the development of an EN 1021 ‑ 3 standard, but the CEN did not successfully complete its work on the project. However, existing legislation in a number of Member States has shown that making safety measures for upholstered furniture compulsory can have positive results. The United Kingdom, for example, has introduced strict legislation which according to research has already saved more than lives, and it is estimated that, between 1998 and 2002, people also avoided burns because of it. In order to improve consumer protection, would it not be appropriate to publish the standards EN 1021 ‑ 1, 1021 ‑ 2 and 1021 ‑ 3 in the Official Journal of the European Union so that a presumption of conformity with the General Product Safety Directive applies to the products referred to in these three standards? What steps will the Commission take to promote the fire resistance of upholstered furniture on the European internal market?