On 25 December 2013 21:58, Peter wrote: .... > I am in Eastern Europe and we get the 2EUR kind universal charger in a > blister kind which is a suicide device for people and equipment, but nobo= dy > *makes* anyone buy those from the dollar shop. The $5-7 level is already > okay and passes most required electrical tests. > > Nobody makes people buy lethally dangerous junk, but it is not reasonable= , or, many administrations think it is not reasonable, that the "average" buyer should have to make their own estimates of lethality based on price or other means. I'm with them on that - regulation can be overdone and often is, but when 230 VAC is involved (as it is here) then having an enforced and enforceable minimum safety standard for new equipment seems acceptable. The standards and testing do seem to get out of hand rather quickly, alas, but the alternative extreme is even less acceptable. What is useful is having a national / international standard that can be used for comparison, to deal with equipment which is manifestly grossly inadequate. This allows you, in cases where it matters, to reasonably quickly get action, while most other products which are 'good enough' but which probably do not meet standards can be ignored. I've only 'gone to bat' over electrical product safety once ever, and reported a product to the authorities, when a major and ostensibly reputable importer wanted to take a manifestly life threatening approach to remediating a lethal fault. A product recall was issued within about 2 weeks as I recall. Russell --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .