EDITORIAL - Do you really really Wannabe a rebel?

If a government body or authority figure tells you, as a business owner, that you must change your business practices to adhere to a new standard, what is your reaction? Is it one of shock and horror because it will be impossible to achieve, but you decide to do it anyway? Or do you simply ignore the edict from above? You know, a bit like when you tell your kids that it's not worth them getting pregnant just yet, simply because their pop star idols - Scary Spice and Posh Spice - are in the family way.

It would appear from the extensive research that PC Dealer has conducted that it is due to this dismissive attitude that the majority of systems integrators have taken over the EC regulations on CE quality testing (see feature on page 22).

Despite the fact that the stringent regulations came into force on 1 January 1996, more than two years later no one is really doing anything about it.

But is this really the reseller's fault? Smaller resellers have complained that they lack the funds to test their equipment properly. It has been estimated that it costs about #500 to test each PC in order to meet the regulation stipulated.

But in some cases, this would mean the test would be as expensive as the cost of a low-end PC. Now we know that margins are slim, but they can't be that transparently thin. And it seems unfair that resellers should foot this six-figure bill to set up a testing centre.

Come on Trading Standards, give resellers some money so that they can afford to invest in the necessary infrastructure to fulfil the standard.

Let's try to work out a way for the CE quality mark to actually mean something to resellers and users and not just something that has been talked about.

Until the EC regulations are more strictly imposed so that every single PC builder does adhere to the standard, the ones that are following the code to the book are being penalised. After all, why should they make the investment at the same time as other PC builders continue to sell hardware that is not compliant?

But in the meantime, if you choose to ignore the EC ruling, you could find yourself caught between a rock and a hard place as Trading Standards has started to take the hard line and is now prosecuting non-compliant resellers and dishing out nasty fines.

So tell the Trading Standards what you really, really want.