(BRUSSELS) - EU member states on Thursday endorsed plans to allow only fire-safe cigarettes to be sold in Europe, a move which could take two or three years to come into force.

The 27 EU nations approved a European Commission proposal which would require the tobacco industry to use fire-retardant paper in all cigarettes in order to cut down on the number of sometimes fatal fires which dropped cigarettes cause each year.

EU Consumer Affairs Commissioner Kuneva stressed that "clearly it is better not to smoke at all".

But as people choose to smoke "requiring tobacco companies to make this small technical change is another step in the right direction towards reducing some of the terrible damage that can be caused, both to the environment, and for some of the most vulnerable consumers in their own homes."

The decision by the EU nations starts the process of bringing the European Union in line with some other leading industrial economies which are taking similar action.

Since New York introduced the fire-safe cigarette requirement in 2004, most other US states have moved, or are moving, in the same direction.

In Canada, legislation setting out safety requirements for cigarettes has been in force since October 2005, and Australia is preparing to introduce very similar laws

US research shows that cigarettes are the leading cause of home fire fatalities every year, the European Commission said. Dropped cigarettes are also a major cause of forest fires.

The EU's executive arm added that the most common "fire-safer" technology involves wrapping cigarettes with two or three layers of special thickened paper which slows down a burning cigarette.

"If a cigarette is left unattended, the burning tobacco will soon hit one of these bands of paper and self-extinguish," the Commission said in a statement.

Data from 14 EU member states (with Iceland and Norway) shows that cigarette related fires causes some 11,000 fires every year, with 520 deaths and 1,600 injuries. The elderly are disproportionately affected.

Following the decision by the member states, the Commission will bring forward a proposal to prepare an EU-wide standard early next year and estimates that the whole process of legislation will take two to three years.

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