IT has been announced by the EU Commission that the European equestrian riding helmet, standard (BS) EN1384 is to be withdrawn from the official journal of the European Union at its next publication.
It means that hat manufacturers will no longer be able to CE kite mark their hats using this standard and will need to recertify to a specification that is at present being developed.
The withdrawal of the standard has no effect on the riding hats already on the market as once a hat has been manufactured to a standard it will not become “non standard” until after its withdrawal, which for most disciplines seems to be from January 2016, but competitors need to check with their relevant discipline first.
The existing EN1384 standard is currently in the process of revision and the withdrawal of this standard is because the European working group responsible for the hat standard failed to reach an agreement on its overdue revision and subsequently caused the commission to take this drastic measure.
The draft proposal for the revision has to go through the laborious procedure of comment and review and at the moment it is still unclear when the final version will be announced.
In the future, CE marked riding hats will have to be successfully tested and certified against an alternative specification to allow CE certificates to continue. Riding hats can no longer be CE kite marked solely to Snell, ASTM F1163 or the AS/NZ3838 without additional testing.
The EN1384 and the BSEN1384 models have proven very popular among its riders throughout the UK and Europe, but manufacturers will need to re-certify the hats to a revised specification, meaning that it will not be legal for most, if not all, competition spheres from January 1, 2016.
As a result of the recent changes, British eventing, British riding clubs, Pony Clubs British dressage, British Horse Society and British show jumping will permit (BS)EN1384 hats in 2015, but not thereafter. All hats will be re tagged from January 1, 2016 to confirm the competitor has the correct standard.
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