To enhance the internal market for construction, the European Commission has proposed on May 26, 2008 to replace the Construction Products Directive (89/106/EEC) by a new Regulation aimed at removing all remaining regulatory and technical obstacles to the free circulation of construction products in the European Economic Area (EEA).
How the revision came about:
The main objective of the 1989 CPD was to remove technical barriers to trade within the EEA by replacing existing national standards and approvals with a single set of European-wide technical specifications for construction products.
According to the CPD, any manufacturer whose products are specified and CE marked according to European technical specifications cannot have his product refused entry to EEA markets on technical grounds. Under the CPD, a product bearing the CE marking will be presumed to meet the requirements of these specifications.
However, the practical implementation of the CPD revealed several weaknesses of the CPD, among which the burdensome procedures and obligations of the system have been most often cited. This situation was not only confined to the CPD, but it encompassed several important Directives and Regulations of the Community.
In this context, in 2005 the European Commission launched a three year rolling programme to simplify the Community’s regulatory framework by means of making legislation less burdensome, easier to apply and thus more effective.
Within the Better Regulation: Simplification Strategy programme, the construction sector was identified as a priority domain, requiring an evaluation on the impact and of the global effectiveness of the legislative framework applicable to the sector, especially concerning the CPD.
The Commission believed that the Directive only partially eliminated barriers to trade and does not establish optimal conditions allowing the free circulation and use of construction products inside the Community.
The stakeholder’s consultation:
Following this assessment, an open internet consultation was conducted between March and June 2006 on the revision of the CPD. RICS was among the 300 interested parties and stakeholders who replied to the consultation.
Nearly all respondents have confirmed the need for a harmonised legislative framework and an absolute need for clarification concerning the fundamental elements of the CPD: the meaning and status of CE marking, the acceptance of CE marking by national authorities and the users of construction products as a reliable marking. One of the main findings was the need for simplifying the systems of attestation of conformity – the administrative procedures for the delivery of the CE marking needed to be streamlined, according to the majority of the stakeholders.
The added-value of the new Regulation:
The new Regulation proposed by the Commission corresponds to the issues and problems identified in the stakeholder consultation.
As such, the proposed regulation incorporates the clarification needs – it contains precise definition of its subject matter and the most pertinent concepts in the field of the Internal Market for construction products. Even more importantly, the specific meaning of CE marking for construction products is determined clearly.
The proposal also introduces new and stricter criteria for
the notification of bodies carrying out third party tasks in the process of assessment and verification of constancy of performance.
Simplification is also a main objective of the proposed Regulation. This is expressed by an important number of measures aimed at easing the route to CE marking, thereby reducing the administrative burden. The procedures for obtaining a European Technical Assessment are also simplified and clarified.
The proposed Regulation will go before both the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers who can make amendments but who will have to agree on an identical text for the proposal to become law. A final decision on the text is expected by the end of 2008.
You can download the text of the Regulation following the link on the upper right hand side of the screen. For more information, contact Raluca Iagher at riagher@rics.org.
