SIR,—Under the above heading, Leslie Adrian givewi, some interesting information
about the steps that have been taken to protect consumers. May I add an example of an industry that has taken very considerable steps to ensure a fair deal for the consumer.
As a result of the working parties that were set up at the end of the war, the Furniture Develop- ment Council came into being on January 1, 1949. By the end of that year it had already started research to see if it was possible to evolve a performance test for furniture. With the support of both trade unions and the employers' federation, the BSI were later asked to draw up a standard based on the perform- ance tests that had been successfully evolved by the Research Department of the Council. They also asked that BSI should operate a certification mark scheme at the same time, thus bringing the standard • under the heading of the Kite Mark. Hitherto the idea of performance tests, certainly for 'furniture, was not regarded as a serious possibility.
The standard test for furniture is aimed at giving some measure of probable durability and does not concern itself with either functional requirements or • appearance.
The tests are now used, not only as the basis of a standard, but to provide a measure that helps in the development of new methods of construction.
In some industries there has been a misunder- standing of the meaning of a 'minimum standard, and some manufacturers, whose products would quite clearly stand up to much more severe testing than that laid down in a standard based on per- formance, have felt it might lower their goodwill to mark their goods with the Kite Mark. This, of course, provides an alibi for the less scrupulous manufacturer.
For the furniture industry, the object of the emphasis on minimum is, of course, to protect those consumers who are not sufficiently well off to replace their furniture more than once or perhaps twice in a lifetime, and therefore are unable to gain personal experience themselves.—Yours faithfully,
J. C. PRITCHARD
Director and Secretary
The Furniture Development Council,
II Adelphi Terrace, Robert Street, WC2
Previous page
