2003D0043 — EN — 18.01.2003 — 000.001 — 1
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►B COMMISSIONDECISION
of17January2003
establishingtheclassesofreaction-to-fire performance forcertain constructionproducts
(notified under document number C(2002) 4807)
(TextwithEEArelevance)
(2003/43/EC)
(OJ L 13, 18.1.2003, p. 35)
Corrected by:
►C1Corrigendum, OJ L 33, 8.2.2003, p. 44 (2003/43/EC)
▼B
COMMISSIONDECISION
of17January2003
establishing the classes of reaction-to-fire performance for certain
constructionproducts
(notified under document number C(2002) 4807)
(TextwithEEArelevance)
(2003/43/EC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Directive 89/106/EEC of 21 December 1988,
on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions
of the Member States relating to construction products (1), as amended
by Directive 93/68/EEC (2), and in particular Article 20(2) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)Directive 89/106/EEC envisages that in order to take account of
the different levels of protection for construction works at
national, regional or local level, it may be necessary to establish
in the interpretative documents classes corresponding to theperformance of products in respect of eachessential requirement.Those documents have been published as the ‘Communication ofthe Commission with regard to the interpretative documents ofCouncil Directive 89/106/EEC (
3)’.
(2)With respect to the essential requirement of safety in the event
of fire, interpretative document No 2 lists a number of interre-
lated measures which together define the fire safety strategy tobe variously developed in the Member States.
(3)Interpretative document No 2 identifies one of those measures asthe limitation of the generation and spread of fire and smokewithin a given area by limiting the potential of constructionproducts to contribute to the full development of a fire.
(4)The level of that limitation may be expressed only in terms ofthe different levels of reaction-to-fire performance of the
products in their end-use application.
(5)By way of a harmonised solution, a system of classes wasadopted in Commission Decision 2000/147/EC of 8 February
2000 implementing Council Directive 89/106/EEC as regardsthe classification of the reaction-to-fire performance of construc-tion products (
4).
(6)In the case of certain wood-based panels, it is necessary to usethe classification established in Decision 2000/147/EC.
(7)The reaction-to-fire performance of many construction productsand/or materials, within the classification provided for in Deci-
sion 2000/147/EC, is well established and sufficiently well
known to fire regulators in Member States that they do notrequire testing for this particular performance characteristic.
(8)The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordancewith the opinion of the Standing Committee on Construction,2003D0043 — EN — 18.01.2003 — 000.001 — 2
(1) OJ L 40, 11.2.1989, p. 12.
(2) OJ L 220, 30.8.1993, p. 1.
(3) OJ C 62, 28.2.1994, p. 1.
(4) OJ L 50, 23.2.2000, p. 14.
▼B
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
The construction products and/or materials which satisfy all the
requirements of the performance characteristic ‘reaction-to-fire’without need for further testing are set out in the Annex.
Article 2
The specific classes to be applied to different construction products
and/or materials, within the reaction-to-fire classification adopted in
Decision 2000/147/EC, are set out in the Annex to this Decision.
Article 3
Products shall be considered in relation to their end-use application,
where relevant.
Article 4
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.2003D0043 — EN — 18.01.2003 — 000.001 — 3
▼B
ANNEX
The tables set out in this annex list construction products and/or materials which satisfy all the
requirements for the performance characteristic reaction to fire without need for testing.
Table 1
Classesofreaction-to-fire performanceforwood-basedpanels (1)
Wood-based panel
products (2)EN product
grade refer-
enceMinimum
density (kg/
m3)Minimum
thickness
(mm)Class(3)
(excluding
floorings)Class (4)
Floorings
Particleboards EN 312 600 9 D-s2, d0 DFL-s1
Fibreboards, Hard EN 622-2 900 6 D-s2, d0 DFL-s1
Fibreboards, Medium EN 622-3 600 9 D-s2, d0 DFL-s1
400 9 E, pass EFL
Fibreboards, Soft EN 622-4 250 9 E, pass EFL
►C1Fibreboards,
MDF(5)◄EN 622-5 600 9 D-s2, d0 DFL-s1
►C1Cement-bonded
particleboard (6)◄EN 634-2 1 000 10 B-s1, d0 BFL-s1
►C1OSB board (7)◄ EN 300 600 9 D-s2, d0 DFL-s1
Plywood EN 636 400 9 D-s2, d0 DFL-s1
Solid wood panels EN 13353 400 12 D-s2, d0 DFL-s1
(1) EN 13986
(2) Wood-based panels mounted without an air gap directly against class A1 or A2-s1, d0 products with minimum
density 10 kg/m3or at least class D-s2, d0 products withminimum density 400 kg/m3.
(3) Class as provided for in Table 1 of the Annex to Decision 2000/147/EC.
(4) Class as provided for in Table 2 of the Annex to Decision 2000/147/EC.
(5) Dry process fibreboard.
(6) Cement content at least 75% by mass.
(7) Oriented strand board.2003D0043 — EN — 18.01.2003 — 000.001 — 4