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The deadline requires around 17 British Standards to be revised so that they do not conflict with the new European standard, and manufacturers will also have to adapt their equipment to meet the new specifications within six months, which the BSIA says is too little time for the required adjustments.

The Association has asked the European Standards body, CENELEC, to reconsider its decision to give manufacturers, installers and end-users more time, especially since they are still getting to grips with DD243:2002, introduced last year.

BSIA technical manager, Alex Carmichael, said: "The BSIA, together with a number of our European counterparts has asked CENELEC to reconsider its decision. We feel that our members have been asked to meet an unrealistic deadline of September 2003 and that customers will be confused by the situation, especially following all the recent changes brought about by DD243:2002.

"Introducing EN 50131-1 prematurely, before other complementary product specification and application standards are available means that many aspects of BS 4737 will continue to remain in use alongside the new standard. Inevitably this will cause confusion. In addition, EN 50131-1 is itself currently under review, with the revised version due to be issued in under two years."

The BSIA says the introduction of EN50131-1 is premature because there are still many European standards for intruder alarms outstanding. The BSI (British Standards Institute) committees will also be required to make amendments to standards that conflict with EN 50131-1.

Mr Carmichael continued: "Potentially, EN50131-1 is a good standard, but we would ask that common sense prevails and that its introduction be delayed. This will allow time for revision to take place, for other complementary standards to be published and for the industry and end-users to prepare properly for its introduction."