EN   EN 
 
 
 EUROPEAN  
COMMISSION   
Brussels, XXX   
[…](2018) XXX  draft  
 
COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) …/...  
of XXX  
supplementing Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council by establishing classes of performance in relation to resistance to wind load for 
external blinds and awnings  
(Text with EEA relevance)  
This draft has not been adopted or endorsed by the European Commission. Any 
views expressed are the preliminary views of the Commission services and may not 
in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the Commission.    
EN 1  EN EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM  
1. CONTEXT  OF THE  DELEGATED  ACT  
Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 
2011 laying down harmonised conditions for the marketing of construction products and 
repealing Council Directive 89/106/EEC1 acknowledges two main alternatives to establish 
classes of performance in relation to the essential characteristics of constructio n products. 
According to Articles 27(1) and 60(f), this can be done by delegated acts of the Commission, 
whereas Article 27(2) allows for the use of harmonised standards for this purpose, on the 
basis of a revised mandate. In accordance with Article 27(2),  first subparagraph, where the 
Commission has established such classes, the European standardisation bodies shall use those 
classes in harmonised standards.  
According to the definition comprised in Article 2(7) of Regulation (EU) No 305/2011, 
“class” means  a range of levels, delimited by a minimum and a maximum value, of 
performance of a construction product. Classes in Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 are thus 
always expressing a given range of determined performance of the product.  
Moreover, Regulation (EU) No  305/2011 does not distinguish, unlike its predecessor Council 
Directive 89/106/EEC, different kinds of classes, depending on their origin. Classes of 
performance established by the Commission and such classes established by the European 
standardisation bo dies are thus to be acknowledged and respected quite in the same manner.  
Furthermore, the whole classification of performance would need to be defined open -ended, 
entailing all possible levels of performance in relation to a given essential characteristic  for 
the products covered by the standard in question. Otherwise, also a threshold level for such 
performance would be established at the same time.  
The European product standard EN 13561 on external blinds and awnings and their 
performance requirements, i ncluding safety, was initially adopted by European Committee for 
Standardisation (CEN) in 2004 and amended in 2008. It contains classifications for the 
performance of the products covered by it, notably in relation to its essential characteristic 
resistanc e to wind load, with four classes of performance introduced.  
According to the available information, the existing classes are not sufficient for all the 
products at hand, since new kinds of products in this field have been developed more recently, 
represen ting a higher wind resistance than before.  The use of the existing classes may also in 
some cases lead to safety problems linked to the fixing of the products. For those reasons, the 
classification of the performance in question would need to be enlarged, but differentiated 
among the various product subfamilies covered by standard EN 13561: owing to the 
resistance of fixing systems, for folding arm awnings only three classes would be appropriate, 
and the three additional classes, compared to the four existi ng ones, would be applicable only 
for external blinds with fabric running in lateral guide rails and pergola awnings.  
Those objectives are to be achieved by adding three more classes for the essential 
characteristic resistance to wind load to the classification included in the standard EN 13561, 
as published by CEN in March 2016, and by differentiating the use of classes among the 
product subfamilies covered by this standard, in particular for folding arm awnings, for 
external blinds with fabric running in lateral guide rails and for pergola awnings. For other 
kinds of awnings, vertical roller blinds, marquisolettes and in sect screens, the new version of 
the standard EN 13561 does not represent any change to the existing classification.  
                                                 
1 OJ L 88, 4.4.2011, p. 5.   
EN 2  EN Since under the application of Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 the introduction of such new 
classifications into a harmonised standard by the E uropean standardisation bodies themselves 
would require the issuing of a new revised mandate, which has not taken place and which 
would take longer, it has been considered more opportune to proceed with this draft Delegated 
Regulation.  
It has not been cons idered appropriate to include other performance classifications contained 
in the standard EN 13561 within the scope of the draft Delegated Regulation, because 
pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 such classifications comprised in harmonised 
standards, t he reference to which has been published under Directive 89/106/EEC in the 
Official Journal of the European Union, are to be deemed applicable under Regulation (EU) 
No 305/2011 without any further actions necessitated.  
2. CONSULTATIONS  PRIOR  TO THE  ADOPTIO N OF THE  ACT  
The draft Delegated Regulation was discussed in the meeting of the Advisory Group on 
Construction Products (the AG) on 14 June 2016 and also submitted for a written consultation 
of experts between 31 May and 28 June 2016. Before these steps, a ll Member States were 
presented an opportunity to nominate experts to participate in them. In addition to these 
experts, also other external stakeholders were consulted. The documents discussed in the AG 
and relevant to the written consultation were transm itted simultaneously to the European 
Parliament and to the Council, as foreseen in the Common Understanding on Delegated Acts. 
The observations presented in these contexts and the inputs received afterwards by the 
Commission have been taken into account wh en preparing the final draft version of this act 
for the inter -service consultation.  
It was published for public feedback on the Better Regulation Portal from … to …; [ wording 
on feedback and any follow -up to be included subsequently ]. 
3. LEGAL  ELEMENTS  OF THE  DELEGATED  ACT  
Pursuant to Article 27 of Regulation (EU) No 305/2011, classes of performance may be 
established in relation to the essential characteristics of construction products. According to 
Articles 27(1) and 60(f), this can be done by delegated acts of the Commission. In accordance 
with Article 27(2), first subparagraph, where the Commission has established such classes, the 
European standardisation bodies shall use those classes in harmonised standards.  
According to Article 2(7) of Regulation (E U) No 305/2011, “class” means a range of levels, 
delimited by a minimum and a maximum value, of performance of a construction product. 
Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 does not distinguish different kinds of classes. Classes of 
performance established by the Co mmission and such classes established by the European 
standardisation bodies are thus to be acknowledged and respected quite in the same manner.  
Since under the application of Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 the introduction of new 
classifications of performan ce into harmonised standards by the European standardisation 
bodies themselves would require the issuing of new revised mandates, which has not taken 
place, it has been considered more opportune to proceed with this draft Delegated Regulation.  
For these re asons, the draft Delegated Regulation should be adopted to establish new classes 
of performance for external blinds and awnings, under the European standard EN 13561.  
The draft Delegated Regulation conforms to the principle of proportionality. It results in 
alleviating certain difficulties caused by the impact of Regulation (EU) 305/2011 on the  
EN 3  EN establishment of classification systems for the performance of construction products, and 
theref ore can be assessed to benefit the whole European construction sector.   
EN 4  EN COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) …/...  
of XXX  
supplementing Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of  the 
Council by establishing classes of performance in relation to resistance to wind load for 
external blinds and awnings  
(Text with EEA relevance)  
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,  
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union , 
Having regar d to Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 9 March 2011 laying down harmonized conditions for the marketing of 
construction products and repealing Council Directive 89/106/EEC2, and in particular Article 
27(1)  thereof , 
Whereas:  
(1) The European standard EN 13561 on  external  blinds and awnings  was initially 
adopted by European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) in 2004 and amended in 
2008. It contains four classes of performance for  external  blinds and awnings , notably 
in relation to resistance of those products to wind load . 
(2) The classes established in the standard EN 13561 are not sufficient for all the products 
currently available on the market. Most recent products represent a higher resistance to 
wind load than before. The use of the existing classes may in some cases lead to safety 
problems linked to the fixing of the products.  
(3) It is therefore necessary to add three more classes of performance for resistance to 
wind load to the classification included in the standard EN  13561. It is also necessary 
to differentiate the use of classes among the product subfamilies covered by that 
standard, in particular for folding arm awnings, for external blinds with fabric running 
in lateral guide rails and for pergola awnings.   
(4) In acco rdance with Article 27  of Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 classes of performance 
in relation to essential characteristic of construction products may be established either 
by the Commission or a European standardisation body  on the basis of a revised 
mandate  issued by the Commission . Given the need to establish additional classes of 
performance as soon as possible, the new classes of performance should be established 
by the Commission . In accordance with Article 27(2)  of that Regulation , those classes 
are to be  used in harmonised standards , 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:  
Article 1  
Classes of performance in relation to resistance to wind load for external blinds and awnings, 
as set out in the Annex, are established.  
                                                 
2 OJ L 88, 4.4.2011, p. 5.   
EN 5  EN Article 2 
This Regulatio n shall enter into force on the twentieth  day following that of its publication in 
the Official Journal of the European Union . 
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.  
Done at Brussels,  
 For the Commission  
 The President  
 Jean -Claude Juncker