Two-pin - three-pin plugs

First of all I have to congratulate you for the excellent service you are providing to educate us on consumer affairs. My question concerns electrical goods.

As Malta is now a full member of the EU, are shop owners in line with EU legislation in selling electrical goods with a two-pin plug, considering our electrical system caters for three? The missing connection is the earth which plays the important role of making the item safe if a fault had to occur.

As far as I know, all electrical gadgets imported to the UK come with a three-pin plug. I expect the Maltese authorities to regularise importation on items carrying a two-pin plug if the EU law clearly regulates this issue.

Everyone knows that two-pin plugs are less safe and more prone to accidents. Can you please enlighten me with the EU Standards on this issue? (Jonathan Scicluna)

This is an important issue which we have already referred to in past. As I have already written in previous columns, in Malta we have adopted the British three-pin plug as opposed to the Continental two-pin plug.

In my opinion, the British system is safer. Indeed the European Committee for Electro-technical Standards, an independent organisation consisting of representatives from industry and national standardisation bodies from a number of countries, would not force domestic users of electricity to replace their three-pin plugs should a European norm ever be introduced. They can simply carry on using the same system as before.

Electricity is potentially fatally dangerous. We all know it can kill and there are consumers who do not know how to change a plug. Therefore, in cases where the respective continental electrical appliance comes with a two-pin plug, the seller must either change the plug or supply the buyer with an appropriate adapter.

It is not fair to sell an electrical appliance in Malta with two-pin plugs. A seller must not put a consumer in a situation in which he or she has to change a plug which, for certain people, is dangerous and potentially fatal.

Indeed one of the eight internationally recognised consumer rights is "the right to safety", which makes it illegal to sell a product which is not safe.

In any case, still from a legal point of view, there is a new law in the pipeline on this issue and we will be covering it in this column. In the meantime, I urge consumers either to insist on a three-pin plug or an adapter.

If the seller refuses to co-operate we must maximise on "market forces" (il-ligi tas-suq) by not buying the item in question. Moreover, write to me about it with a view to sharing the information with fellow consumers.