EN    EN  
 EUROPEAN  
COMMISSION 
Brussels, 7.8.2014  
COM(2014) 511 final 
  
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO  THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 
as foreseen in Article 67 (1) of Regulation (EU) 305/2011 
 
 
2 
 Table of Contents 
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE PRESENT REPORT................................................................ 2  
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................. .....3 
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... ............ 6  
2. Background Framework........................................................................................................... 6 
3. REACH & its consequences for construction products ......................................................... 8  
4. Developments and processes based on the CPR ................................................................... 11  
4.1 The harmonisation mechanism ........................................................................... 11  
4.2 How can new regulatory needs be accommodated? ............................................ 12  
4.3 From the Basic Requirement 3 to  harmonised technical specifications ............ 12  
5. Results of the study on specific needs for information on the content of dangerous 
substances..................................................................................................................... ........... 15  
5.1 Study framework ...…………………………………………   …………............ .15 
5.2 Study findings ....................................................................................................... 17  
6. Conclusions .................................................................................................................... .......... 20  
 
 
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE PRESENT REPORT  
The following abbreviations are frequently used in  this report and are in cluded here for ease 
of reference: 
CEN  European Committee for Standardisation CENELEC European Committee for El ectrotechnical Standardisation 
CPR  Regulation (EU) 305/ 2011 on construction products 
DoP  Declaration of Performance  EAD    European Assessment Document 
EN(s)  European standard(s) EOTA   European Organisation for Technical Assessment  
ETA  European Technical Assessment REACH Regulation (EC) 1907/2 006 on the Registration, Eval uation, Authorisation and 
Restriction of Chemicals 
SVHC Substance of Very High Concern  
 
3 
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY  
The present report is submitted pursuant to  Article 67(1) of Regulation (EU) 305/20111, the 
Construction Products Regulation (CPR).  
In line with Article 4(1) of the CPR the manufacturer must draw  up a Declaration of 
Performance (DoP) when placing on the market  a construction product which is covered by a 
harmonised standard, or for which a European Technical Assessment has been issued. A copy 
of the DoP must be further supplied with every product which is made available on the 
market. The CPR also provides in Article 6(5) that  the information referred to in Article 31, or 
Article 33, of Regulation (EC) 1907/2006 (REACH) sh all be provided together with the DoP.  
The reporting obligation for the Commission is defined in the first subparagraph of Article 
67(1) of the CPR as follows: 
“By 25 April 2014, the Commission shall assess the specific need for information on the 
content of hazardous substances in cons truction products and consider the possible 
extension of the information obligation provided  for in Article 6(5) to other substances, 
and shall report thereon to the European Parliament and to the Council. In its 
assessment, the Commission shall take into account , inter alia, the need to ensure a high 
level of protection of the health and safety of workers using constr uction products and of 
users of construction works, including with regard to recycling and/or reuse requirements 
of parts or materials.”  
To respect this obligation the Commi ssion has procured the independent “ Study on specific 
needs for information on the content of dang erous substances in construction products” 
with the overarching objective to clarify and analyse the existence of specific needs for 
information on content of construction products.  
The study has identified and focused on 30 schemes dealing with the content of hazardous 
substances in construction products. The study ha s found that no sector specific schemes are 
both focusing solely on this content and covering only construc tion products. National 
legislation, where existing, has a mixed approach, though exam ples focusing on the content 
have been identified in particular when addres sing restrictions (bans) of certain substances. 
The study has revealed that stakeholders have di fferent views on the role of the labelling of 
content on construction products. Those supporting see its particul ar value in the enforcement 
of substance bans and in facilitating applica tion of re-use and recy cling although most of 
these schemes are only voluntary.  
The Commission has assessed the findings of the study together with the legal provisions of 
the CPR and of REACH. Furthermore the Commission has assessed the progress of harmonisation work in the area of assessmen t of dangerous substa nces in construction 
products and arrived to the following conclusions.  
The current harmonised technical specifications for construction products cover all aspects of 
product performance in relation to  regulatory provisions on subs tances in place today at 
national and at European level.  
                                                            
1  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/EEC (OJ L 88, 4.4.2011, p.5). 
 
4 
 The standardisation work which has been un dertaken for the elaboration of European 
assessment methods covers, inter alia, all cont ent-related national or  European regulatory 
provisions. Standardisers are expected to introduce shortl y these assessment methods in 
harmonised European standards and the EOTA bodi es will also use them in the European 
Assessment Documents (EADs). This procedure is followed whenever new national or EU 
legislation is adopted. 
The manufacturer is thus empowered to in form about the required product performance, 
where appropriate including the content of substances, through the DoP. This ensures the 
availability of this information fo r all downstream users of the product. 
According to the REACH regulation, products that  are themselves substances or mixtures 
under REACH and belong to a specific subset2 of substances with probable adverse effects to 
human health and the environmen t as identified by Article 31 of the REACH regulation must 
be accompanied down the supply chain to any acto r, excluding suppliers to the general public 
and consumers themselves, by a Safety Data Sheet . However, this obliga tion is not applicable 
to products that are articles. For those produc ts, Article 33 of the REACH Regulation requires 
submission of information to recipients (and on ly upon request also to consumers) to allow 
safe use, at minimum the name of th e substances of very high concern2 when present in article 
products in a concentration above 0.1% in weight.  
According to Article 6(5) of the CPR this information must be provided together with the 
DoP. This information (Safety Data Sheets for dangerous substances or information on 
dangerous substances containe d in the construction product)  therefore accompanies the 
construction product in all steps of  the supply chain till  the final end user (contractor, worker 
and consumer), extending the disseminat ion obligation set by the REACH regulation. 
However the REACH-related information which the manufacturer has to provide takes into 
account the protection of users, workers and co nsumers. Any future extension of the REACH 
Regulation to cover new substa nces will automatically appl y also to the obligation of 
construction products manufacturers to dissemin ate the relevant information, thus keeping 
pace with scientific progress. 
Having regard that the information to be provide d is restricted to the information pursuant to 
Articles 31 and 33 of REACH and the lack of  any explicit national or EU legislation 
requesting the coverage of additional inform ation under DoP, the obli gations under CPR do 
not, at present, constitute a vehicle to prov ide information on the content of any hazardous 
substance in all construction products to the users because a Safety Data Sheet is only 
provided next to a DoP when REACH requires it. It can be considered however to 
comprehensively address some pressing health and environmental concerns.  
Moreover, the DoP presented together with RE ACH information as intended by Article 6(5) 
                                                            
2  See chapter 3 for details. Requirements to provide safety data sheets (SDS) un der Article 31 of REACH 
applies to substances that are classified as hazardous,  persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) or very 
persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvB), identified as substances of very high concern (SVHC), established, in accordance w ith Article 59(1) of REACH. Similar pr ovisions apply to mixtures for which 
information to the supplier is to be available upon requ est. Article 33 requires to provide information in the 
supply (and to consumers who so request) on any SVHC  substance in articles in a concentration above 0.1% 
in weight by weight with sufficient information to allow safe use and as a minimum the name of the 
substance. 
 
5 
 of the CPR can constitute a useful tool to fulfil, for example through informed user and 
consumer choices, the goals of the high leve l of protection of human health and the 
environment, or the sustainable use of res ource inter alia via re cycling and reuse.  
The study has identified certain voluntary certifica tion and labelling sc hemes that pursue 
these goals via information of the content of substances in the construction products. They 
would however generally not be tailored to  construction products, have limited geographic 
coverage and would by large not be covered by the DoP. The study has not attempted to 
develop a scheme of its own or assess costs a nd benefits of extending existing obligations by 
one of these schemes. 
The manufacturers of constructi on products, especially SMEs, responding to the survey in the 
study, considered any extension of the current in formation obligations to  be a significant and 
unjustifiable burden. 
The European Commission considers therefore that for the purpose of consolidating the 
Internal Market for construc tion products within the framework of the implementation of 
Regulation (EU) 305/2011 the specific needs for information on the content of hazardous 
substances in construction produc ts, are sufficiently addressed by the current provisions of the 
CPR, in particular Article 4 in combination with Article 6(5). However, the need for further options to inform final users on the presence of substances in construc tion products, so as to 
ensure a high level of protection of the heal th and safety of workers using construction 
products and of users of construction works, in cluding with regard to recycling and/or reuse 
requirements of parts or materials, should be further assessed and, if appropriate, addressed 
under the relevant instruments available in EU legislation. 
It needs to be underlined that the above c onclusions concerning the implementation of the 
Regulation (EU) 305/2011, do not pr ejudge the possibility for th e Commission, having regard 
to the provisions of the Treaty on the Func tioning of the EU othe r than Article 114, to 
undertake the appropriate legi slative initiatives.   
 
 
 
 
6 
 REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO  THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 
as foreseen in Article 67(1) of Regulation (EU) 305/2011 
 
1. Introduction 
The present report is submitted to the European  Parliament and the Council as foreseen in 
Article 67(1) of Regulation (EU) 305/20113 (Construction Products Regulation, the CPR).  
Article 6 of the CPR defines the content of  the manufacturer’s obligation to provide 
information on the performance of the constructi on product in the form of the Declaration of 
Performance (DoP). In accordan ce with Article 6(5), the manu facturer shall provide the 
information required by Articles 31 and 33 of the REACH Regulation together with this 
declaration.   During the discussions preceding the adoption of  the CPR, certain Member States were 
considering to extend the current provisions of Article 6(5) of the CPR to specific content 
related information on hazardous substances, as well as to additional substances, both extensions thus going beyond the obligati ons created by the REACH Regulation.  
In the framework of the legislative process for the adoption of the CPR, the Commission was 
finally requested to analyse the specific need for information on the content of hazardous
4 
substances in construction products and on the possible extension of the information 
obligation provided for in Article 6(5) of Regul ation (EU) 305/2011 to ot her substances. This 
reporting obligation is in cluded in Article 67(1). 
2. Background  
Member States’ rules require th at construction works be designe d and executed so as not to 
endanger the safety of persons, domestic animals or property nor damage the environment. 
Construction works are considered in a broa der sense, comprising buildings and civil 
engineering works (e.g. roads, bridge s, dams and sewerage networks). 
The rules of the Member States may influe nce the requirements im posed on construction 
products. These requirements ar e often reflected in nationa l product standards, national 
technical approvals or other national technical specifications  and provisions related to 
construction products. Due to th eir disparity, these national re gulatory requirements hinder 
trade of construction products within the European Union.  
                                                            
3  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/EEC (OJ L 88, 4.4.2011, p.5). 
4  In these contexts, the CPR uses the wording “hazard ous substances”, whereas th e customary term utilized 
within the construction sector so far has been “dangerous substances”. For the purposes of this report they 
are to be considered identical. 
 
7 
 The predecessor of the CPR, Council Directive 89/106/EEC5 aimed to remove technical 
barriers to trade in the field of  construction products in order to enhance their free movement 
in the internal market by establishing harmoni sed technical specificat ions for construction 
products. The CPR has replaced Directive 89/ 106/EEC in order to simplify and clarify the 
existing framework, and to improve the transpar ency and the effectiv eness of the existing 
measures. Without prejudice to the provisions in  other EU and national legislation, the CPR 
also indicates at various instan ces such as recitals 4, 25, 55, arti cle 28(2) and 67(1) an aim to 
take into account EU objectives on the high level of protection of the health and safety of 
workers using construction products and users of  construction works, as well as aims to 
improve possibilities for sustainable construc tion and to facilitate the development of 
environment-friendly products.   It has been considered of utmost importance to  obtain transparency a nd clarity regarding the 
assessment of performance of construction produc ts and the presentation of this performance 
in the DoP, drawn up by the manuf acturer. This enables the final end users of the construction 
product (contractors, workers and consumers alike)  to take into account and into consideration 
this performance, so as to ensure that each pr oduct is used appropriate ly, i.e. only when its 
performance meets the demands prescribed by the designer of the construction works in 
question and set by the regulatory provisi ons in force where the product is used. 
To achieve this it is necessary to elaborate harmonised technical speci fications in order to 
define the European methods and criteria for the assessment of the performance of 
construction products. On the basis of the sa id harmonised technical specifications the 
performance of the product can be assesse d in a commonly accepted European way and 
afterwards declared in the DoP. The DoP is thus providing accurate and reliable information 
concerning the performance of  the construction product. 
In line with Article 4(1) of the CPR the manu facturer must draw up a DoP when placing on 
the market a construction product which is c overed by a harmonised standard or for which a 
European Technical Assessment has been issued . A copy of the DoP must be further supplied 
with every product which is made available on the market. The CPR also provides in Article 
6(5) that the information referred to in Article  31, or Article 33, of REACH shall be provided 
together with the DoP. The extent of this information and its availability down the supply 
chain is discussed in detail in the next chapter.  
For example, Article 31 covers wider subset of substances than Article 33, but applies only to 
products that are themselves substances or mi xtures (e.g. paints). When provided, information 
under either of the Articles would only indicate presence
6 rather than quantitative information 
on the content of the substance in the article. 
At the time when the European Commission pres ented its proposal for a new Regulation to 
repeal Directive 89/106/EEC, so me provisions were brought fo rward by stakeholders which 
would have entailed new obligations for the manufacturers, specifically providing additional 
information on the content of hazardous subs tances in construction products, and the 
subsequent delivery of this information within or alongside the DoP fore seen in Article 6 of 
                                                            
5  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 (OJ L 40 of 11.02.1989, p.12.) 
6  In excess of a certain concentra tion or the proportion of the substanc e, by weight, in the product.  
 
8 
 the CPR.  
The solution finally adopted in the CPR substi tuted these new obligat ions with a reporting 
structure. Within its recital 25, the choice of this solution was explained as follows: 
“However, the specific need for information on  the content of hazardous substances in 
construction products should be further investigated with a view to completing the range 
of substances covered so as to ensure a high level of protection of th e health and safety of 
workers using construction products and of use rs of construction works, including with 
regard to recycling and/or reuse requirements of parts or materials.” 
The reporting obligation for the Commission is defined in the first subparagraph of Article 
67(1) of the CPR as follows: 
“By 25 April 2014, the Commission shall assess the specific need for information on the 
content of hazardous substances in cons truction products and consider the possible 
extension of the information obligation provided  for in Article 6(5) to other substances, 
and shall report thereon to the European Parliament and to the Council. In its 
assessment, the Commission shall take into account , inter alia, the need to ensure a high 
level of protection of the health and safety of workers using constr uction products and of 
users of construction works, including with regard to recycling and/or reuse requirements 
of parts or materials.”7 
In order to prepare for this reporting obligati on, the Commission has initiated an independent 
study on the information needs on the content of dangerous substances in construction 
products. The findings of the st udy are presented in Chapter 5 of the present report.  
 
3. REACH & its consequences for construction products 
The REACH Regulation on registration, evalua tion, authorisation and restriction of 
chemicals, entered into force on 1 June 2007. It aims to ensure a high level of protection of human health and the environment, including the promotion of alternative methods for 
assessment of hazards of substa nces, as well as the free ci rculation of substances on the 
Internal Market while enhancing competitiveness and innovation. 
REACH imposes certain specific obliga tions concerning in dividual substances  manufactured, 
imported or used in the EU. REACH places th e burden of proof on companies. To comply 
with the REACH Regulation, companies must re gister substances they manufacture and 
market in the EU in more than 1 tonne per ye ar. The registration dossier should document safe 
use of substances, by including informati on on the hazards of the substance enabling 
registrants to classify and label them a nd identifying risk management measures, and 
communicate this information down the supply chain
8. The level of information to be 
provided by the registrant is dependent on th e volume of the substanc e registered by that 
individual registrant. 
                                                            
7  In these contexts, the CPR uses the wording “hazard ous substances”, whereas th e customary term utilized 
within the construction sector so far has been “dangerous  substances”. For the purposes of this study, they 
are to be considered identical.  
8  Article 31 of the REACH Regulation. 
 
9 
 For substances manufactured or imported in qu antities above 10 tonnes per year, registrants 
must also perform a chemical safety assessm ent to identify if and which additional risk 
reduction measures are required. 
REACH impacts on a wide range of companies across many sectors, even those who may not 
think of themselves as being involved with chemicals. Construction products in the framework of REACH might either be substances, mi xtures or articles.  
Therefore, companies manufacturin g or supplying construction pr oducts have to comply with 
requirements set out in REACH: 
•  Firstly, according to Article 31 of REACH, for construction products that are registered 
substances or mixtures (but not for produc ts which are articles under REACH), the 
supplier is obliged to provide the recipient with safety data sheets  compiled in accordance 
with Annex II to REACH: 
(i) for all substances or mixtures th at are either classified as hazardous9, persistent, 
bio-accumulative and toxic (PBT) or very  persistent and very bioaccumulative 
(vPvB)10, which are identified as Substan ces of Very High Concern (SVHC) 
included in the Candidate list for Authorisation11; 
(ii)  on request for non-classifi ed mixtures which contain: 
o at least one substance posing human h ealth or environmental hazards above 
specified concentration limits12; or 
o substances that are persistent, bio-accu mulative and toxic or very persistent 
and very bio-accumulative in an individual concentration ≥0.1% by weight; or 
o Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC ) that are included in the Candidate 
List of substances for author isation for other reasons; or 
o substances for which there are Community workplace exposure levels. 
 An exemption applies to oblig ation (i) above if the mixture is offered or sold to the 
general public and sufficient information for safe  use is provided. In such cases a safety 
data sheet need not be supplied unless reque sted by a downstream us er or distributor.  
•  Secondly, according to Article 33 of RE ACH, for construction products (which are 
articles), suppliers have a duty to co mmunicate down the supply chain sufficient 
                                                            
9  Physical, health and environmen tal hazard. See Regulatio n (EC) No 1272/2008 - classification, labelling 
and packaging of substances and mixtures. For mixtures, those that meet criteria as dangerous in 
accordance with Directive 1999/45/EC (t o be repealed by Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 by 1 June 2015).  
10  Identified in accordance with the criteria set out in Annex XIII of REACH.  
11  These so-called SVHC substances are listed in Annex XIV of REACH. List includes a subset of 
carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic for reproduction, PBT or vPvB substances as well as substances of 
equivalent concern (e.g. endocrine disruptors) and serv es as a candidate list for REACH authorisation. List 
is continuously updated and by Decembe r 2013 included 151 substances. See 
http://echa.europa.eu/candidate-list-table . An SVHC Roadmap has been established by the Commission to 
ensure that all relevant substances are put on the list by 2020.  
12  Article 31(3) of REACH: >1% by weight for non-gaseous mixtures and >0.2% by volume for gaseous 
mixtures. 
 
10 
 information to allow safe use - as a minimum,  the name of the subs tance - on substances 
of very high concern (SVHC) - if they are pr esent in the article in  a concentration above 
0.1% w/w. The same information must be provided also to consumers upon request. In 
addition, a notification to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) by the producers/importers of articles of  the presence of SVHC in those articles is required if 
both the following conditions are met:  
-  the SVHC is present in the articles in total quantitie s of more than 1 tonne per 
producer/importer per year, and 
-  the substance is present in those articles above a conc entration of 0.1% (weight by 
weight). 
The notification has to be made at the latest  six months after a gi ven SVHC substance has 
been included in the Candidate List. 
Producers and importers are advised to update th e notification if the information they have 
included has undergone changes. Examples of such changes could be: change in tonnage 
range, production/import of different articl es containing the same SVHC (with e.g. 
different use). 
• And finally, manufacture, placing on the mark et and use of certain dangerous substances, 
mixtures and articles might be restri cted, according to Title VIII of REACH
13. A number 
of restrictions in Annex XV II to REACH are applicable to construction products: for 
example entry 19 on arsenic compounds, entry 31 on creosote restrict their use as a wood 
preservative (but allow for certain derogati ons) and entry 47 on chromium VI restricts its 
use in cement and cement-containing mixtur es (but allows derogation for use in 
controlled closed and totally automated processes). 
In summary, REACH imposes a number of obliga tions on the construction sector as it is 
directly applicable to manufact uring of construction materials or their chemical components, 
but also to downstream construction compan ies who use chemicals during construction 
processes. In addition, health and environm ental information provided by REACH should be 
used in the risk assessment of construction products.  
Complying with REACH by the regi strant thus addresses risks to health and environmental 
damage that might be posed by e xposure to his regist ered volume of the substance and during 
the registered uses e.g. during manufacturing of construction ma terials, use of construction 
materials containing chemicals at construction si tes, release during service life of buildings 
and release during decommissioning. 
REACH is not the only regulation ad dressing these risks. Risks of failure of materials or risks 
resulting from improper use are not, in genera l, addressed by compliance with REACH, but 
through other legislation. Compliance with RE ACH registration obli gation also does not 
cover issues related to the aggr egated exposure or end of life  issues, addressed for certain 
pollutants through further REACH risk manageme nt measures such as restrictions and 
authorisation, sectoral EU le gislation (e.g. regulation of VOC in solvents and paints), 
environmental standards, labelling provisions, waste legislation etc.  
In the context of effectiveness of REACH, the Commission has recently completed an 
                                                            
13  See Annex XVII of the REACH Regulation 
 
11 
 evaluation exercise addressing all elements of REACH. After thorough examination, noting 
that it is too early to assess the full impact as not all its provisions are fully operational14, the 
Commission concluded that REACH15 delivers on all objectives that could be assessed and 
decided not to propose changes to th e enacting terms of the Regulation. 
Nonetheless, some areas of concern have been  found with regard to the impact of REACH on 
SMEs. The Commission concluded that there is  a need to reduce the adverse impact of 
REACH on those SMEs impacted by the RE ACH processes such as registration and 
authorisation. With regard to the construction sect or this is of high relevance, as certain small 
construction contractors are facing challenge s related to compliance with REACH. The 
Commission recognised also the need to ra ise awareness among all downstream sectors, 
including construction sector, with regard to the proper und erstanding and compliance with 
the REACH obligations. 
4. Developments and pro cesses based on the CPR 
4.1 The harmonisation mechanism  
The aim of the CPR is to consolidate the Inte rnal Market of construction products by ensuring 
the abolishment of unjustified t echnical barriers to the cross- border trade. The mechanism to 
achieve this is the following: 
The CPR provides for the establishment of ha rmonised technical spec ifications which all 
actors in the construction sector are obliged to follow: 
• Member States’ authorities shall express th eir requirements for the use of construction 
products in their territory by re ference to assessment methods (b ased on tests, calculations 
or descriptive provisions) a nd classifications established in the harmonised technical 
specifications (Articles 8(3) to (6) and 17(5) in fine  of the CPR).  
• manufacturers shall declare the performance of their products in a DoP by applying the 
harmonised technical specificati ons (Articles 4 and 8 of the CPR). This information will 
be rendered available for the w hole downstream supply chain.  
• design engineers shall prescribe the performance of products to be used in the construction 
works by referring to the same harmonise d technical specifications in order to 
demonstrate compliance with the requirements set by the public authorities and with the 
demands of performance ensuing from design choices. 
• contractors / users will buy construction prod ucts which have for the foreseen use the 
required performance as prescribed by the de sign engineer on the basis of, again, the 
harmonised technical specifications. 
The harmonised technical specifications are defined in Article 2(10) of the CPR as 
harmonised standards and European Assessment Documents. 
The harmonised standards are elaborated by CEN/CENELEC on the basis of mandates issued 
by the European Commission after consultation of  the Member States’ authorities and other 
                                                            
14  The registration deadline for pre-registered substances below 100t is only in 2018. Development of 
Candidate List for authorisation is in progress, and only  in 2014 have the first authorisation requests been 
processed. All elements of REACH evalua tion are however already fully operational. 
15  COM(2013)49 
 
12 
 stakeholders (manufacturers, notified bodies, consumers, etc.).  
The objective of this broad consu ltation is to ensure that all legislative requirements imposed 
in Member States which constitute barriers to  trade are taken into account in the mandates 
which the Commission addr esses to CEN/CENELEC. 
The Technical Committees of CEN/CENELEC whic h elaborate the harmonised ENs take into 
account the above issued mandates and therefor e all such national and European regulatory 
requirements for which measurement/test methods have already been developed and are used 
at national or EU level, find their way in th e harmonised ENs.  Manuf acturers can therefore 
declare the performance of their products in re lation to these requirements. The final end users 
of the construction product (contractors, worker s and consumers alike) can also take into 
account and into considerat ion this performance, so as to en sure that each product is used 
appropriately, i.e. only when its performance m eets the demands prescribed by the designer of 
the construction works in question and set by the regulatory provisions  in force where the 
product is used. 
4.2 How can new regulatory needs of th e Member States can be accommodated?  
If Member States consider necessary to  establish new regulat ory provisions on the 
performance of construction products, they mu st notify the new draft regulations to the 
Commission and the other Member States th rough the procedure established by Directive 
98/34/EC. This allows the Commission and the Member States to be informed on the new 
justified regulatory aspects and to initiate the procedure to amend the mandates accordingly 
aiming at including the necessary changes in the harmonised technical specifications. The 
Commission would act in the same way in case the EU re gulatory provisions on the 
performance of certain constr uction products are modified or  adopted at the EU level. 
The above procedure ensures that mandates and consequently harmonised European standards 
are kept up- to-date with the ju stified national requirements.  
4.3 From Basic Requirement 3 and 7 to harmonised technical specifications  
Basic Requirements for Construction Works of the CPR(i.e. buildings and civil engineering 
works) comprise Requirement Nr 3 and Requirement Nr 7 as follows: 
“3. Hygiene, health and the environment  
The construction works must be designed and built in  such a way that they will, throughout their 
life cycle, not be a threat to the hygiene or hea lth and safety of workers, occupants or neighbours, 
nor have an exceedingly high impact, over their entir e life cycle, on the environmental quality or on 
the climate during their construction, use and demo lition, in particular as a result of any of the 
following:  
(a) the giving-off of toxic gas;  
(b) the emissions of dangerous substances, volatile organic compounds (VOC), greenhouse gases 
or dangerous particles into indoor or outdoor air;  
(c) the emission of dangerous radiation;  
(d) the release of dangerous substances into ground water, marine waters, surface waters or soil;  
(e) the release of dangerous substances into drin king water or substances which have an otherwise 
negative impact on drinking water;  
(f) faulty discharge of waste water,  emission of flue gases or faulty di sposal of solid or liquid waste;  
(g) dampness in parts of the c onstruction works or on surfaces within the construction works.” 
 
13 
 and 
7. Sustainable use of natural resources  
The construction works must be designed, built an d demolished in such a way that the use of 
natural resources is sustainable and in  particular ensure the following:  
(a) reuse or recyclability of the construction works,  their materials and parts after demolition;  
(b) durability of the construction works;  (c) use of environmentally compatible raw and secondary materials in the construction works. 
These provisions constitute the framework under which notably hazardous substances are 
regulated in Member States.  
Although Basic Requirement Nr. 3 refers to em ission / release of dangerous substances, 
regulatory provisions are in pl ace which, in order to ensu re limited emissions from 
construction products and to bring about rationa l methods for assessing these emissions, are 
referring to the content of dangerous substances in them. 
4.3.1 Provisions in harmonised standards:  
In order to provide information to manufact urers and standardisers and to mitigate the 
difficulties arising from the disparity of nati onal provisions during the period where European 
assessment methods are under elaboration the Co mmission has created a database available 
on the web in: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise /construction/cpd-ds/index.cfm  
The database contains the na tional regulatory provisions of the Member States which 
contributed to this exercise. The database s upports manufacturers that need to declare the 
performance of their products  in these Member States.  
In order to elaborate European assessment methods concerning dangerous substances the 
Commission has issued in 2005 Mandate M/3 66 to CEN/CENELEC (based on Directive 
89/106/EEC), requesting the deve lopment of horizontal assessm ent methods for dangerous 
substances. 
Clause IV.7 of the mand ate provides that:  
“The development of the horizontal measur ement/test standards shall … identify and 
cover all products or product families for which the three following conditions are 
fulfilled: 
– European or national regulations are limi ting or banning the emission or content of 
dangerous substance;  
– Existing or potential barriers to  trade have been identified; 
– Measurement/test methods for these specifie d regulated dangerous substances have 
already been developed and are used on a national or EU level.”  
Clause IV.9 of the same mandate provides that:  
“Due to regulatory requirements (e.g. the content of restricted and banned substances 
in construction products) … it is al so intended to consider content  measurement/test 
standards. ”  
 
14 
 Annex 3 of Mandate M/366 defines “Technical  terms of reference for the mandated 
measurement / test standards dedicated to the content of regulated dangerous substances in 
construction products.”  The Commission has thus requested CEN/CE NELEC to develop assessment methods for 
dangerous substances regulated either thr ough national or through Eu ropean legislation.  
 
CEN Technical Committee TC/351 has undertaken the work requested by Mandate M/366. In 
January 2014 the Technical Committee finalised the following documents:  
CEN/TS 16516:2013 : Construction products - Assessm ent of release of dangerous 
substances - Determination of emissions into indoor air 
CEN/TR 16496:2013 : Construction Products - Assess ment of release of dangerous 
substances - Use of harmonised horizontal assess ment methods 
CEN/TR 16410:2012 : Construction products - Assessm ent of release of dangerous 
substances - Barriers to use - Extension to CEN/TR 15855 Barriers 
to trade. 
CEN/TR 16220:2011 : Construction products - Assessm ent of release of dangerous 
substances - Complement to sampling. 
CEN/TR 16098:2010 : Construction products: Assessm ent of release of dangerous 
substances - Concept of horizontal testing procedures in support of 
requirements under the CPD. 
CEN/TR 16045:2010 : Construction Products - Assess ment of release of dangerous 
substances - Content of regulated dangerous substances - Selection 
of analytical methods. 
CEN/TR 15858:2009 : Construction products - Assessmen t of the release of regulated 
dangerous substances from cons truction products based on the WT/ 
WFT procedures. 
CEN/TR 15855:2009 : Construction products - Assessm ent of release of dangerous 
substances - Barriers to trade. 
The list of work items which have not yet been finalised can be found at:  
http://standards.cen.eu/dyn/www/f?p= 204:22:0::::FSP_ORG_ID,FSP_LANG_ID:510793,25
&cs=135BD767027D4B4E081006EF46B5E957C  
 As a further harmonisation step , the Commission has revised a number of CEN mandates for 
construction products in orde r to initiate the procedure for updating harmonised products 
standards by introducing the assessment met hods on dangerous substances which are 
developed under Mandate M/366. 
Special emphasis is given to identify precisely  all national regulations on content and/or 
emission from construction products (indicative list  of substances and regulations is included 
in all mandates as Annex II) and their relevance for construction products.  
In addition, each amendment to the existin g CEN mandates (to elaborate harmonised 
standards for construction products) includes in Annex I a list of substances for each product 
standard and reference to the relevant national regulatory requirements. 
 
15 
 The Commission services are also working in close co-operation with Member States in order 
to identify those essential characteristics in re lation to the Basic Require ment 7 (e.g. related to 
the recyclability of constructi on products, environmentally compatible raw materials, etc.). 
Any needs related to dangerous substances iden tified under this Basic Requirement 7 will also 
be covered under the mandate M 366. 
The Commission has also developed harmonisati on frameworks (criteri a and methodologies) 
for the labelling and the health-based eval uation of indoor emissions of construction 
products16. These frameworks were developed in line with the requirements of the Basic 
Requirement Nr 3 of CPR, the CEN/TS  16516:2013 and the REACH guidance documents 
and may be considered for future convergence and harmonisation of existing labelling schemes in Europe.  
4.3.2 Provisions in for issuing ETA (for pr oducts not covered by  harmonised standards):
 
For products which are not covered or not fully covered by harmonised standards the 
manufacturer may in line with Article 19(1) of the CPR submit a request to obtain a European 
Technical Assessment (ETA). The ETA is issued by one of the Technical Assessment Bodies 
designated for this purpose by the Member States. 
In order to determine the assessments nece ssary for products not covered by harmonised 
standards, EOTA (the organisation of the TABs ) has collected national provisions related to 
the content of dangerous substan ces and has used also the rele vant information available in 
CEN. This resulted in the elaboration of a checklist which the EOTA bodies apply for 
assessing the product in order to issu e a European Technical Assessment.  
The said checklist is available in www.eota.eu  as “EOTA Technical Report 34: Checklist for 
ETAGs/CUAPs/ETAs - Content and/or release of  dangerous substances in products/kits”.  
 
5. Results of the study on specific n eeds for information on the content of 
hazardous substances in construction products and discussion 
5.1 Study framework 
The Commission procured the “ Study on specific needs for information on the content of 
dangerous substances in construction products” with the overarching objective to identify 
whether there are any needs fo r manufacturers to provide additional information on the 
content of dangerous substances  in construction products. This was examined in the context 
of the protection of the health and safety of  not only workers who in stall/use construction 
products but also of all persons who live in  buildings and use ci vil engineering works 
throughout their whole life cycle.  
The primary focus of the study was therefore to  present information on construction product 
certification and labelling schemes which asse ss the content of haza rdous substances in 
construction products. It did not assess the imp act of individual schemes on the health and 
                                                            
16  JRC ECA report no 29: Harmonisation framework for health based evaluation of indoor emissions from 
construction products in Europe (EU-LCI), EUR 26168 EN, 2013. 
JRC ECA report no 27: Harmonisation framework for indoor products labelling schemes in EU, EUR 25276 
EN, 2012.  
 
16 
 safety of workers and users of construction works, or the cost  for implementing it. The study 
also did not explore the aspect of extension of  information on the content of other substances 
or the recycling/reuse issues.  
To fulfil its objectives and ensure that all relevant schemes and legislation have been 
considered, the contractors (R PA and Tecnalia) have undert aken an extensive literature 
review of relevant legislation and certificati on/labelling schemes. To  the extent possible, 
European and national legislation containi ng provisions on the content of hazardous 
substances in construction products have been examined. In addition, th e study contractor has 
taken into account other source s of information, including st akeholders’ responses to the 
consultation exercise undertaken for the study. 
In addition, over 300 key stakeholders were inv ited to participate in an online consultation 
exercise. Two workshops were also held in Brussels, allowing the study team to gather 
additional information from key industry associat ions and Member States’ authorities, some 
of which administer the schemes analysed. 
The analysis focused on whether existing scheme s were based on setting general requirements 
only, and whether they were ta king account of the specific in tended uses of products. Where 
appropriate the study has also examined how risks for consumers, workers and for the 
environment have been defined within them a nd which substances as well as risk scenarios 
have been selected.  
The focus was on public and private schemes as:  
• European Union legislation or administrati ve practices, requiring the assessment and/or 
declaration of content of dangerous substa nces notably in construction products (e.g. 
Drinking Water Directive or technical guidance on Green Public Procurement);  
• National or regional legislati on or administrative practices in  Member States, requiring the 
assessment and/or declaration of content of hazardous substances notably in construction 
products;  
• Public and private schemes currently used in  these countries also for construction products 
at national and regional level (e.g. Blauer Engel, Nordic Swan). 
The emission of hazardous substances from cons truction products was not a subject of this 
study. As explained in the previous Chapters of  this report, this aspect is covered by the 
European standardisation work within this fi eld, and will be taken into account within the 
obligations for declaring the performance.  
Within the examination of purely content-relate d systems, the contractor examined how the 
content of hazardous substances was identifi ed (e.g. manufacturer declaration, third party 
control, use of specific labels).  The report also investigated which construction products were 
actually covered by these schemes: How releva nt was the intended use of these products 
within a building (civil engineering works)  when setting requirements and selecting 
substances that have to be d eclared? In case of using test methods, which methods were used 
(e.g. covered by international standards (ISO  standards), by European standards (EN 
standards) or national standards, tests de veloped by scheme providers)? How often are 
products tested under these schemes? How are te sting bodies or certif ication bodies chosen 
(are they specialis ed for construction produc ts or generally for a wi der range)? What steps 
have been taken to ensure a neutra l and reliable assessment of products? 
 
17 
  
In the more general context, th e study looked into the quantity and quality of the information 
provided to downstream users:  
• Was the complete list of substances prov ided with the product declaration? Is the 
information aggregated?  
• Who took the final responsibility for the correct declaration?  
• Has there been a clear and measurable goal id entified (e.g. reduction of substances used in 
products, fewer cases of illness due to effects of hazardous substances in construction products)?  
• How have these goals been set?  
• How often have they been evaluated?  
The final report of the study
 is publicly available on the website: 
 http://ec.europa.eu/ente rprise/sectors/constructi on/studies/index_en.htm  
5.2 Study findings 
5.2.1 Construction related scheme s with content criteria  
The focus of the study was on schemes that have  content criteria only. However, due to the 
fact that only one scheme was identified that focuses solely on the products’ content , the 
study also considered dual schemes, i.e. those that rely on a mixture of  content and emissions 
based approaches. With this in mind, 30 scheme s were identified that appear to a) have 
established requirements that are specific to c onstruction products and b)  consider the content 
of the product. 
These schemes are listed in the table below. Schemes that only  have emission criteria and 
schemes that have not established specific criter ia for construction products were not covered 
by the final study report. 
Schemes considered in the study 
AENOR Medioambiente  Milieukeur 
Architettura Naturale (ANAB) Natureplus 
Association of Environmentally Friendly Carpets 
(GUT) NF Environment 
Austrian Institute for Health and Ecological Building 
(IBO) Nordic Swan 
BASTA SundaHus Miljödata 
Blue Angel BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) 
BRE Global DGNB System 
Byggvarubedömningen (BVB) Eco Green Building 
Cradle to Cradle European Ecolabel 
DGNB Navigator Ecolabel (National) Austria 
Ecocycle Council – Building Product Declaration 
(BPD3) El Distintiu (the Catalonian Ecolabel) 
Eco-Institut Label Ecolabel (National) Croatia 
 
18 
 Schemes considered in the study 
ECOproduct Ecolabel (Na tional) Czech Republic  
EMICODE Ecolabel (National) Hungary 
GISCODE Ecolabel (National) Slovakia 
 
The 30 identified schemes are very diverse in  terms of objectives, scope, criteria and 
procedures.  
5.2.2 Objectives of the Schemes  
The objectives of the vast majority of the identi fied schemes are broader than focusing solely 
on the health of construction workers and user s of construction products. Most schemes are 
motivated by a range of considerations. In addi tion, some schemes are standalone tools, while 
others complement systems that certify whole bu ildings. Another crucial difference relates to 
the target audience of the 30 schemes, i.e. whet her they are aimed at professionals, consumers 
or both. To a certain extent, di fferences in objectives explain the varying approaches adopted 
by the different schemes and in some cases ma y account for the inclusio n of content-related 
criteria.  
5.2.3 Geographical Coverage  
Most schemes are predominantly used in the Me mber State of their origin and to a lesser 
extent in other countries. The most widely applie d scheme is the Blue Angel which is used in 
21 European countries. This geographical spread  can be a result of deliberate expansion to 
other markets but can also occur spontaneous ly where schemes expand in an unmanaged 
manner due to the demand from buyers of constr uction products. Almost half of the schemes 
originate from two countries (Germany and Sweden), possibly reflecting a high level of 
awareness as regards human health and environmental issues. 
5.2.4 Product Coverage  
Only one scheme (IBO) exclusively certifies  construction products. The range of products 
certified by the remaining schemes is variab le, although some patterns were identified. 
Comparing the relative percentage of cons truction products certified by schemes, those 
schemes predominantly used by professionals  tend to certify a higher percentage of 
construction products.  
The percentage of construction products certif ied by Ecolabels is much lower. This is not 
surprising given that the broad obj ective of these schemes is to promote products that have a 
lower environmental impact compared to equivale nt products. As a result of this broad scope, 
products certified under these schemes range from  toner and cartridges to wood flooring. This 
wide range of products explai ns why criteria under these schemes are product specific.  
The construction products that are most likel y to be certified by a scheme are flooring, 
insulation, concrete, mortar and grout. Floorin g is perhaps the product most likely to be 
certified because these products can be marketed  by different schemes th at appeal to both the 
professional and consumer market.  
5.2.5 Substances Considered  
The big majority of the schemes define the substances that are restricted, whilst some refer to 
European legislation (most often to REACH,  or the Dangerous Substances Directive 
 
19 
 67/548/EEC17, or to the Regulation (EC) 1272/200818 on Classification Labelling and 
Packaging of substances and mixtures) or to na tional regulations. Some substances appear to 
be a popular target for many schemes. By way of example, these include substances classified 
as carcinogenic, mutagenic, reprotoxic, persis tent organic pollutants, heavy metals and 
phthalates. 
5.2.6 Assessment Criteria/Procedures  
Five case study schemes rely on diverse appro aches to assessing conformity, reflecting 
differences in their objectives and roles. Br oadly speaking, possible approaches to assessing 
criteria with certification and labelling schemes include:  
• full or partial self-certification by the manufacturer; 
• examination of documents provided by the manufacturer, including a pplication forms and 
safety data sheets by the scheme organise r; this may involve requesting additional 
information from the manufacturer and may require that the manufacturer tests their 
products; and 
• tests carried out by an independent body. 
Certain schemes rely on self-c ertification by the manufacturer while others require that 
products applying for certification undergo test ing. In addition, the approval procedure for 
certain schemes involves an inspection of the pr oduction site. More genera lly it is clear that 
some schemes use only one of the above appr oaches and many rely on a combination of 
different assessment methods and procedures (e.g. in the first stage the assessment may 
involve the examination of documentation pr ovided by the manufacturer, followed by 
independent testing to determine compliance with certain criteria). 
5.2.7 Ways to communicate “conformity”  
Two main methods have been identified. The firs t one (used by 75% of schemes) is the use of 
a logo or label which is displayed on the product, the packaging, accompanying documents or in marketing literature. Secondly, 64% of scheme s publish a list of certif ied products online.  
5.2.8 Extent of applicat ion of the schemes
 
The different schemes have been applied to varying degrees. BASTA (based on content) 
currently covers around 80,000 pro ducts, while other schemes ha ve been applied to only a 
few construction products. To a large extent this may be a result of the di fferent approaches to 
product registration and of the time the scheme is in operation (e.g. BASTA relies on self-certification by the manufactur er and exists since 2007). 
5.2.9 National and EU Legislation 
 
The study has identified only a few examples of national legislation that  focus primarily on 
the content of potentially hazardous substances in construction products. Where such legislation exists, a mixed approa ch is applied: for some substa nces or groups of substances 
emission limits are imposed; for others, the co ntent of the substance in the product above a 
                                                            
17  Council Directive 67/548/EEC of 27 June 1967 on the approximation of laws, regulations and 
administrative provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances (OJ 
196, 16.8.1967, p.1). To be repealed by 1 June 2015 by Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008. 
18  Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008  of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on 
classification, labelling and packaging of substances  and mixtures, amending and repealing Directives 
67/548/EEC and 1999/45/EC, and amending Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (OJ L 353, 31.12.2008, p.1). 
 
20 
 certain maximum value. The most notable is probably the labelling requirement for 
construction products that are at the same time also substances and mixtures under CLP 
regulation18. 
In terms of product coverage, some legislat ion focuses on individua l construction products 
whereas other legislation covers a range of construction products.  
In terms of identifying regulated substances, le gislation either refers to substance groups or 
names specific substances. The measures called for in legislation can also vary, with some 
legislation restricting named s ubstances while other legislati on requires the declaration of 
such substances. 
5.2.10 Content based approach - discussion  
In addition to the legislative provisions, the st udy has identified 30 certification and labelling 
schemes that cover construction products and have  inter alia content based criteria. Only one 
however relies for all the product/substance combinations solely on content related requirements (BASTA) as most probably emissi on testing can be complicated, expensive and 
requires external expertise.  
The importance of assessing emissions from pr oducts is rather ge nerally acknowledged and 
some of the consulted stakeholders have noted that, even for re-use and recycling, the actual 
leaching tests may be more reliable than the compiled content-based information. The information on the content of substances in  the products is however also an important 
feature of the implementation of national and EU  legislation, in particular when it comes to 
bans and the presence of substa nces of very high concern (S VHC). While very important in 
supporting the EU objectives on the high level of protection of human health and the 
environment, the restricted scope of the CPR does not serve as a vehicle to systematically 
provide information on the content of substan ces in construction products. However, such 
information could serve to further promote, for example through informed consumer choices, the development and use of environment-friendl y construction products or  the sustainable use 
of resources inter alia via re cycling and reuse. The study ha s not attempted to develop a 
scheme of its own or to assess costs and benef its of extending existing obligations by one of 
these schemes.   5.2.11. Impact on manufacturers, particularly SMEs
 
The consultation of construction product manuf acturers through the on-line questionnaire and 
during the discussion of the study findings made evident that manufactur ers consider that any 
extension of their obligations on communicating information on hazardous substances to the 
downstream supply chain would constitute an unjustified burden, particularly for SMEs. 
 
6. Conclusions  
The current harmonised technical specifications for construction products cover all aspects of 
product performance in relation to regulatory provisions on h azardous substances in place 
today at national and at European level. 
The standardisation work which has been  undertaken under Mandate M/366 for the 
elaboration of European assessment methods cove rs also content related national or European 
regulatory provisions. Standardis ers (CEN) are expected to in troduce shortly these assessment 
methods in harmonised European standards and the EOTA bodies will also use them in the 
 
21 
 European Assessment Documents (EADs). 
The manufacturer is thus empowered to in form about the required product performance, 
where appropriate including th e content of hazardous substances, through the DoP. This 
ensures the availability of this informati on for all downstream users of the product. The 
manufacturer is obliged by the CPR to prov ide together with the DoP the information 
requested in Article 31 (Safety Data Shee t for products that are themselves hazardous19 
substances or mixtures), or Artic le 33 (sufficient information to allow safe use, including as a 
minimum a name of the substance, when product contains an SVHC substance in a 
concentration above the 0.1% in we ight) of the REACH Regulation.  
According to Article 6(5) of the CPR this information must be provided together with the 
DoP. This information (Safety Data Sheets for dangerous substances or information on 
dangerous substances containe d in the construction product)  therefore accompanies the 
construction product in all steps of  the supply chain till  the final end user (contractor, worker 
and consumer). 
The REACH related information which the manuf acturer may have to provide takes into 
account the protection of users, workers and co nsumers. Any future extension of the REACH 
Regulation to cover new substa nces will automatically appl y also to the obligation of 
construction products manufacturers to dissemin ate the relevant information, thus keeping 
pace with scientific progress.  
In an analogous fashion, the mandate M/366 and subsequent development of standards to be 
used for declaring the performance of the c onstruction product will be following any national 
and EU development in the sector. 
Having regard that the information to be provide d is restricted to the information pursuant to 
Articles 31 and 33 of REACH and the lack of  any explicit national or EU legislation 
requesting the coverage of additional inform ation under DoP, the obli gations under CPR do 
not, at present, constitute a vehicle to prov ide information on the content of any hazardous 
substance in all construction products to the users because a Safety Data Sheet is only 
provided next to a DoP when REACH requires it. 
The DoP presented together with REACH inform ation as intended by Article 6(5) of the CPR 
can constitute a useful tool to fulfil, for example through informed user and consumer 
choices, the goals of the high level of protection of human he alth and the environment, or the 
sustainable use of resource inter alia via recycling and reuse.  
The independent study on specific needs for information on the content of substances in 
construction products identified a number of schemes and legi slative provisions that use 
information on content of substance in the pr oducts. Most of these schemes would apply a 
combined content/emission approach with a particular emphasis on the emissions from 
construction products. As the study was ef fectively conducted only as a survey and 
compilation of the relevant schemes, it did no t identify and assess individual scheme or 
provisions from the scheme that could be r ecommended as the extension of the current 
obligation under Article 6(5). The lack of detailed inform ation provided by the schemes 
assessed does not allow more precise conclusion s on the content of substances (beyond SVHC 
                                                            
19  For detailed scope of the Article 31 of REACH see above Chapter 3.  
 
22 
 substances).  
Manufacturers of construction prod ucts, especially SMEs survey ed in the study on the other 
hand consider any extension of the current information obligations to be a significant and 
unjustifiable burden.  
The European Commission considers that, for the purpose of conso lidating the Internal 
Market for construction products within the fr amework of the implementation of Regulation 
(EU) 305/2011 the specific needs for informati on on the content of hazardous substances in 
construction products, are suffici ently addressed by the current provisions of the CPR, in 
particular Article 4 in combination with Article 6(5). However, the need for further options to 
inform final users on the presence of substances in construction products, so as to ensure a 
high level of protection of the h ealth and safety of workers us ing construction products and of 
users of construction works, including with rega rd to recycling and/or reuse requirements of 
parts or materials, should be further assessed and, if appropria te, addressed under the relevant 
instruments available in EU legislation. 
It needs to be underlined that the above c onclusions concerning the implementation of the 
Regulation (EU) 305/2011, do not pr ejudge the possibility for th e Commission, having regard 
to the provisions of the Treaty on the Func tioning of the EU othe r than Article 114, to 
undertake where necessary the approp riate legislative initiatives.