BRUSSELS, Belgium – The new CEN Safety Standards for bicycles were published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 22 July, 2006. With this publication these four different standards for bicycles give the ‘presumption of conformity’ as from December 1, 2006, with the EU Safety Directive 2001/95/EC that: “Lays down an obligation on producers to place only safe products on the market.”
The four different CEN standards that were published in the EU Official Journal are: EN 14764 for City and Trekking bicycles; EN 14766 for Mountain bicycles; EN 14781 for Racing bicycles and EN 14872 for Bicycles – Accessories for bicycles – Luggage carriers. The Safety Standards for Bicycles for Young Children (EN 14765) has not yet been published.
The EU Directive 2001/95/EC also stated that: “A product shall be presumed safe as far as the risks and risk categories covered by national standards are concerned when it conforms to voluntary national standards transposing European standards, the references of which have been published by the Commission in the Official Journal of the European Union in accordance with Article 4 of that Directive.”
In order to check conformity with these new bicycle standards, it is recommended to use testing houses which are specifically accredited to test according to these new standards; says the CEN, the European Committee for Standardization. The CEN also stated that: “As far as we are aware only one laboratory is accredited at this very moment in time.”
Guido De Jongh, the Programme Manager for the bicycle standards at the CEN said that: “With the publication of the bicycles safety standards, the appeal for the industry to actually use these standards, has greatly improved.” For more information on bicycle safety standards: www.cenorm.be
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