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USB wall charger (Photo: Alcide55/Wikimedia Commons)
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USB wall charger (Photo: Alcide55/Wikimedia Commons)
Wednesday, 13 July 2016 - 13:20
Dutch authority bans 24 USB chargers over safety concerns
The Dutch food and consumer product safety authority NVWA banned the sale of 24 USB charges in the Netherlands because they have serious technical defects or lack the necessary documentation to guarantee safety. That means the NVWA banned more than half of the 41 USB chargers it examined.
According to the NVWA, 12 of the examined chargers had serious technical defects that can cause electric shock or even fire. The other 12 do meet the technical requirements, but do not come with the necessary technical documentation, and safety can therefore not be guaranteed.
The NVWA released a list oa all the unsafe chargers accompanied by model number so that users can identify and stop using them.
It seems that especially the cheaper USB chargers do not meet requirements - 17 of the 19 cheapest chargers were found to be flawed. Six of those with serious technical defects were generic chargers. The others were from the brands Flextronicx, Mjoy and Pure.
The NVWA also rejected some chargers from smartphone makers Sony, Samsung, Huawei and Nokia because they did not have the necessary documentation. Chargers from other well known brands like Philips, Belkin and Scanpart passed muster.