Further steps in achieving an agreement on the Construction Products Regulation
Published 23 November 2009
The European Commission has revised the proposal in order to include the amendments tabled by the Parliament and to facilitate an earlier agreement. The regulation will likely be passed in early 2010.
The current Swedish Presidency of the EU Council now aims to reach a common position before the end of its term by December 2009. If the Council succeeds in achieving an agreement by December, the proposed regulation will likely be passed in early 2010 and it will come into effect in the 27 Member States in 2012.
CPR has been proposed by the European Commission as to replace the Construction Products Directive (CPD) by a new piece of legislation aimed at removing all remaining regulatory and technical obstacles to the free circulation of construction products in the European Economic Area (EEA) in May 2008. RICS was among the 300 interested parties and stakeholders who were consulted during the drafting of the Regulation.
The main objective of the original CPD dating from 1989 had been to remove technical trade barriers within the European Economic Area 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, any product bearing the CE marking is expected to meet the requirements of these specifications.
However, the practical implementation of the CPD revealed several weaknesses. Member States have complained that the obligations and burdensome procedures to ensure that a product is indeed CE marked have created a situation whereby the principle of freedom of movement of products has actually been jeopardised.
Simplification and harmonisation are the overriding themes of the proposed new regulation. This is characterised by an important number of measures aimed at easing the route to CE marking, thereby reducing the administrative burden.
Amendments tabled by the EP include the lack of truly harmonised assessment criteria which could undermine the credibility of CE markings. MEPs also pointed out that the proposed text does not take into consideration the energy performance of products or their potential health and safety risks for consumers.
The main issues on which agreement needs to be reached are also the most fundamental to the aim of the regulation, namely what is the intended scope of the CE marking - who needs to declare performance and when- as well as the impact of the regulation on SMEs and small manufacturers.
For more information
Zsolt Toth
e ztoth@rics.org
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