Programme to be undertaken in the building sector

Introduction

On 16 November 1972 (Doc. SEC(72) 3991), the Commission of the European Communities approved a procedure, involving exchange of views between experts of the Member countries and Commission departments, for identifying the projects likely to speed up the process of bringing about a unified market in the building sector. Under this procedure, the Commission departments have held many consultations with government experts.

These consultations have confirmed that all the delegations of the Member States are in favour of the Commission's undertaking more general projects in this field, besides those already entered upon, notably for the removal of barriers in respect of certain building materials.

At these consultations, the experts approved the selective approach suggested by the Commission, whereby in a first stage action would be restricted to the following: - definition of methods and procedures for gradually achieving at Community level comparability of the national forecasts on medium- and long-term trends in the three building markets, i.e. housing, non-residential building and civil engineering works;

- definition of the harmonization required in national regulations and codes relating to building and building materials;

- coordination of building research and development in the member countries ; in particular, new methods making for a higher degree of industrialization.

These three projects are regarded as the most feasible, not only by the national experts but also in the industry itself. They could be launched without delay.

These consultations: - revealed the complexity of each aspect and suggested an approach for discovering ways and means;

- led to the drawing up of a programme of work. As the problems are so wide-ranging, the programme has had to be restricted to identifying measures to be undertaken in the immediate future and projects to be launched in successive stages.

Grounds for the proposed measures

The building and civil engineering undertakings constitute one of the most important industrial sectors in the Community countries. The building industry is the largest single employer of the actual working population, 8 to 10 %. It contributes on the same scale to the formation of the national product. It is responsible for half of the value of all investments. This brief glimpse gives an idea of the importance of this sector in the functioning of our economy and society.

In fact, the building sector holds an even more important place in the industrial economy than these figures suggest. It should be remembered that the building sector makes very intensive use of materials, semi-manufactured products, components, capital goods and machinery of every sort, purchased from a wide range of manufacturing industries. These purchases account for 40 to 50 % of the value of the final production of buildings and civil engineering works. The proportion tends to grow with technological progress and with increasing emphasis on improved productivity. It follows that the problems in the building sector have a considerable impact on the industries which precede it in the economic chain.

A common market in the building sector, however, is only at its first beginnings. This is partly a result of the characteristics of the sector: - its products are not mass-produced in a factory, but are built piece by piece on the site of use;

- it calls on the services of a large number of small-scale undertakings, which are scattered and predominantly craft-orientated and which serve customers with a very wide variety of requirements ; and the sector's production cycle is a long one by its nature.

The partitioning of the market is due to the fact that the undertakings have insufficient economic forecasts, comparable in scope and content from one Member State to another to guide them. Furthermore, differences in the national regulations governing the building sector have turned out to be genuine barriers to the integration of the market. Finally, the dispersal of effort in technological innovation has prevented the most rational application at Community level.

The general economic forecasts confirm that for the next 10 years this sector will face a growing demand. Moreover, new requirements imposed by energy problems and considerations relating to the environment and the quality of life will mean substantial changes in the very nature of the demand.

To cope with this situation, it will not be possible to develop production capacity merely by expanding the labour force, which in any case is limited. The prime objective of any project in this field should be to create, in particular through the establishment of a unified market, the basic conditions for an increase in productivity. This presupposes a gradual industrialization of this sector.

It will therefore be necessary to create, on a Community scale, conditions whereby the sector can be better informed than in the past of projected requirements, rationalize its production methods and develop new techniques. This means that priority attention must be given to measures connected with national forecasts and the elimination of technical and legal barriers, taking into consideration present and planned measures, and research.

National forecasts

Although every member country has a system of medium- or long-term forecasts, as regards the building of housing and possibly also public works for services and amenities, the reference criteria adopted vary very widely from one country to another, and this makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to compare national targets.

For this reason, the first need is to draw up a common nomenclature and common definitions and to improve or develop certain sets of statistics which would give the national forecasts, and their periodic up-dating, a sufficient degree of international comparability.

The term "common nomenclature" means employing the same definition for reference terms (types of buildings, prime contractor, location), the same definition for categories of works, the same units of measure and the same frequency for data publishing - all these for housing, non-residential building and other construction works.

The following could be done:

- in the short term: (a) establishment of common nomenclatures for types of building and prime contractors, adoption of common definitions, harmonization of units of measurement and of data presentation;

(b) improvement and development of the customary statistics on civil construction and engineering, particularly those concerning the construction of residential and non-residential buildings;

- in subsequent stages: (a) promotion of the establishment of increasingly comparable national forecasts on future activity in the civil construction and engineering sector;

(b) continuation of efforts to make available to the Commission other data on the sector than those mentioned above, so that the Commission can base its decisions on accurate information.

Removal of technical and legal barriers

The removal of barriers to trade is a requirement laid down in Article 100, of the Treaty of Rome, which provides for the approximation of national legislations whose disparities are the cause of these barriers.

A general framework for this operation was adopted on 28 May 1969 in the form of a general programme whose purpose is to remove technical barriers to trade in industrial products, including those used in building.

A second measure was adopted on 17 December 1969 with the aim of opening public tenders in each Member State to products from other Member States. As regards the building sector, this provision relates to building materials, components and elements.

A third measure was adopted on 26 July 1971 : two Directives on restrictions to the freedom to supply services, which are aimed more particularly at the building sector. The first Directive concerns the removal of restrictions to the freedom to supply services as regards public works contracts and the award of public works contracts through agencies or branches. The second Directive relates to the coordination of procedures for awarding public works contracts.

In spite of this first series of measures, it has to be admitted that the wide diversity of technical regulations is still hampering the spread of building methods across national frontiers.

Technical standards and all manner of technical regulations on building are in force in all Community countries. Everywhere, even at local level, the authorities have set their own standards for fire prevention, health protection and for the safety aspects of structural stability.

These regulations are extremely varied, both as to principle, as to whether they are legally binding or not, and as regards the methods used to enforce them.

The problem is fundamental, for here we are dealing not only with the sector's ability to adapt to the geographical dimensions of the Community but also with the possibility of merely arriving at a rational organization of production.

An operational approach to this problem might be to implement, on the basis of what already exists, a number of practical measures including: - a short glossary of the main legal and technical terms used in national laws and regulations concerning building;

- an inventory setting out the essential national legal, regulatory and administrative provisions which govern construction;

- a report on the functional requirements and basic principles that should be taken into account in structural safety inspections for the types of building under consideration, and a report on fire prevention;

- a European procedure for the technical approval of building materials and methods;

and in subsequent stages: - a programme concerning in particular:

- dimensional co-ordination,

- thermal insulation,

- acoustic insulation,

- fundamental technical requirements forming the basis of all building regulations, and the ways in which they may be expressed in physical terms of performance.

Research

Research is an element of prime importance for both the economic development of the sector and the "quality of life" aspect ; it is a field in which - if measures were implemented at Community level - the very reasons for such research could in the course of time be defined, as could the fundamental guidelines on which it is based, and consideration of human requirements could be promoted.

The constant emergence of new materials, the discovery of better ways of using traditional materials, and the rationalization of building methods will require continuous research based on cooperation and having as its ultimate objective public utility in the widest sense of the term. A topical example is the ability to mitigate the effects of the energy crisis by the widespread adoption of thermal insulation of buildings.

It is equally necessary for intensive research and development to be carried out at Community level into the newest building methods, which often require the use of novel materials.

To attain this objective both general and more specific measures must be implemented, e.g.: - investigation of Member States' research methods and potentialities,

- development of a uniform classification system for national research projects,

- research into fields of common interest, especially those which have encountered technico-legal obstacles,

- improved dissemination of information on progress in research projects of common interest.

These measures have been selected from the far more numerous measures which will be required at a later stage in the development of Community action in this sector.

Conclusion

The grounds for this work programme lie in the need to promote the effective realization of a unified market in the building sector and to encourage productivity within the sector, in particular by the gradual development of industrialization.

This development is essential if the sector is to be able to guarantee a greater continuity of production and employment, meet growing economic and social needs and contribute to the stabilization of the fluctuations in the state of our economies.

In order to create the conditions for opening up and development set out above, the programme is based on three important principles: - increasing comparability of statistics and national forecasts,

- removal of the various technical and legal barriers,

- coordination and development of technological progress.

Each of these principles is embodied in a number of more specific projects, some of which can be implemented without delay and should produce results which can be ratified at Commission level, such as those concerning glossaries, inventories or the dissemination of information. Others will lead to formal proposals which must be submitted to the Council for approval.

In operation the proposed measures normally complement, at Community level, work carried out at national level, allowing the programme to rely essentially on the contributions of experts from each Member State within the working parties either already set up by the Commission or expected to be set up. The Commission will also call upon the cooperation of international and trade organizations affected by the same problems.