News: Mac Pro Sales to Halt in Europe on March 1

Although the Mac Pro is badly outdated and has been neglected by Apple from some time, apparently it’s also not going to be welcome in most of Europe and select other countries in about a month. MacRumors is reporting that the Mac Pro will be discontinued (in its current form) beginning March 1, due to lack of compliance with new regulations. This will take place in all the European Union countries, along with EU candidate countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

Apple sent a notice to its distributors with more details:

As of March 1, 2013, Apple will no longer sell Mac Pro in EU, EU candidate and EFTA countries because these systems are not compliant with Amendment 1 of regulation IEC 60950-1, Second Edition which becomes effective on this date. Apple resellers can continue to sell any remaining inventory of Mac Pro after March 1.

Apple will take final orders for Mac Pro from resellers up until February 18th for shipment before March 1, 2013.

Countries outside of the EU are not impacted and Mac Pro will continue to be available in those areas.

Macworld UK provides more details on the specific reasons, directly from Apple:

Apple told Macworld that the amendment to the IEC 60950-1 regulation increases requirements around electrical port protection and the fan guards in the system.

The Mac Pro met the previous standards prior to the amendment 1 addition. Apple told us that it considers the Mac Pro to be a very safe and very reliable product.

At issue are the large fans within the Mac Pro. Since they are unprotected, it would be possible to touch the fan blades.

According to Apple, the new requirements necessitate fan guards and some increased protection on the ports on the electrical system.

It would make sense for Apple to simply discontinue the current Mac Pro in Europe, and wait for the next model (if there is a next model). Meanwhile, if you live in the good ol’ US of A, you can buy one of these and try your best to chop your fingers off in the fan.