Sven, I have a 6-month-old DVD player with a linecord having no characteristic SPT-cord "grooves" between the 2 conductors. It must be a version of the NISPT-2 material. It seems like it will be more durable than what has long been conventional "zip cord".
It seems I remember two changes in US appliance cords. The more recent was increasing overall cord-insulation thickness—I believe there is some history of child injury from toddler “bitethough”.
An earlier change was increasing the dimensions of the skirt around the molded-plastic blade base on cord caps, to limit the chance of children’s smaller fingers contacting blades while energized. {My first 120V jolt from sticking fingers between cord-cap blades too many years ago is seared in my memory. It is my first recollection of being in immediate pain with no one else around—it didn’t make sense that I could really hurt from such an innocent act.}
