| | Plethora of Product Seals Confuses Consumers / Labels don't always represent quality |
 | | Cornelis Brekelmans, a European Union standards official, said that the CE mark criteria were established to harmonize regulations among the union's 15 member nations, not validate products for consumers, and that meeting them can be just as trying for European as for foreign manufacturers. |
 | | Other experts say the voluntary standards promulgated by some industry groups are set low enough for all members' products to pass, and that endorsements handed out by specialty publications can simply be a quid pro quo for advertising. |
 | | But Bill King, the Consumer Product Safety Commission's chief engineer for electrical and fire safety, warned that the absence of a recognized test symbol on an electrical product is a bad sign. |
| www.sfgate.com /cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/07/17/BU48496.DTL&type=printable (895 words) |