You May Not Know This If You Are Outside Europe,

but in the UK our masters, (the folks in Brussels) decided that the old light bulbs we have all come to love were illegal and had to be scrapped, which as we do as we are told we did, now a new bit of legalisation from them, spotlights and kitchen down lighters are next in line for an EU ban, I really can not believe that the people of Great Britain voted for this, new regulations being drawn up by the European Commission are expected to outlaw energy-inefficient 'directional' bulbs - more than 200 million of which are sold in Europe each year, the move could cost British homeowners a fortune because low-energy replacements are more expensive and could require new fittings to be installed, the first EU rules to phase out traditional incandescent light bulbs came into force last Tuesday, manufacturers and retailers are banned from importing bulbs of 100 Watts or above, and over the next three years the ban will be extended to 60, 40 and 25W bulbs, now the latest regulations will extend the ban to spotlights and reflective halogen bulbs, spotlights, including those used in desk lamps, are expected to be banned altogether - even though 150 million were sold across Europe last year, the EU says they can be replaced by low energy halogen reflectors, but they cost nearly 20 times as much and last just five times as long, mains voltage halogen reflector bulbs, used in ceiling down lighters, kitchen and bathroom light fittings and many table and desk lamps, are also expected to be banned, some 63 million of these were sold last year, Juergen Sturm, secretary general of the European Lamp Companies Federation, said: 'From an industry point of view we would definitely oppose the phase-out of an entire technology group like halogen bulbs, but we must obey our European masters! out with the old in with the new!