SPAIN has urgently banned six brands of solar eclipse glasses after inspectors found a manufacturing fault that risks permanent eye damage.
FACUA-Consumidores en Accion, Spain’s largest consumer group, said regional authorities in Madrid, Castilla y Leon, Galicia, La Rioja and Aragon had all ordered withdrawals in recent weeks.
The banned brands are: Lionstar, ECP Eye Care Professional, Pelispan, Homanaje, Orro and Opticalia.
All six shared the same defect; filters that are too dark, falling below the minimum level of light needed to actually see the sun through them.
Far from not offering enough protection to the wearer’s eyes, it leaves them looking at total darkness, unable to find the solar disc at all.
Consumer protection services found that wearers would slide the glasses up, tilt them, or takes them off for a moment to locate the sun, intending to put them straight back on.
It is in that brief, unprotected instant that the damage happens.
The eyes are exposed directly to visible, infrared and ultraviolet solar radiation, which can cause a chemical or thermal injury to the foveal cells of the retina.
FACUA said the injury can be permanent.
Each brand was flagged separately, and each carries a slightly different paper trail.
Madrid’s regional trade and consumer authority banned Lionstar’s LSP1 model on August 5, ordering both a sales ban and the seizure of any units still on shelves.
Castilla y Leon’s regional government pulled ECP Eye Care Proffesional two days earlier, on August 3.
Galicia’s consumer institute moved first, flagging Pelispan and Homanaje’s QW-50Z1 model on July 29.
La Rioja’s public health and consumer department banned Orro’s O37-R model, from a batch manufactured in March 2026, on July 30.
Aragon’s consumer protection authority ordered Opticalia’s immobilisation and withdrawal on July 31.
All six are now listed on the national alert network for dangerous non-food products, which is coordinated by the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030.
FACUA warned the same fault could be present in other glasses currently being sold or handed out for free.
Spain’s total solar eclipse takes place on Wednesday, with the path of totality crossing northern Spain, Aragon, the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands.
The rest of the country, including Madrid, will see a partial eclipse.
Consumers are advised to check that any eclipse glasses carry the CE mark and comply with the EN ISO 12312-2 safety standard before Wednesday.
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