WRITTEN QUESTION E-0857/00

by Roger Helmer (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(22 March 2000)

Subject: Construction products directive

The construction products directive was designed to remove barriers to trade within the European Union. It is designed to ensure that all products sold within the construction industry within the EU are fit for

their intended use. Each product will bear a CE mark to indicate compliance with a harmonised European specification or a European technical approval. There will be a transitional period within which national and harmonised standards can be used. One of the areas affected by the harmonised standards is safety in the case of fire.

Has the Commission estimated the cost of the implementation of harmonised standards to the fire safety industry?

What assurances can Commission give that the harmonised standards will be implemented simultaneously across all Member States?

How will the Commission ensure that individual Member States do not add their own test methods or criteria, thereby perpetuating barriers to trade?

Will the Commission reassure the industry that the test laboratory capacity is adequate to cope with the re-testing of every product?

Given the demand on the notified laboratories, will the Commission permit a CE mark to be issued from tests undertaken in accordance with the final draft of the prEN (Draft European Standard)?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(26 April 2000)

Whilst no specific evaluation of the costs to the fire safety industry has been carried out, the Commission considers that the benefits of the internal market for producers, in terms of increased access to European markets without the need for multiple testing to different national standards, will far outweigh the initial costs of implementing the harmonised standards.

The obligation to implement the harmonised standards arises simultaneously in each Member State. Having fixed the transitional arrangements in consultation with the Member States' representatives in the standing committee on construction, the Commission will closely monitor the implementation measures taken in each Member State. This practice is already well established in other areas in the form of an internal market scoreboard.

The Commission has all of the legal instruments necessary to ensure that the Member States regulate in accordance with the EC Treaty. If necessary, the Commission will not hesitate to commence infringement proceedings in cases where these obligations are not net.

In fixing the duration of the period of co-existence of national and European standards, the Commission will take account of the capacity of the notified bodies to undertake the necessary work in relation to attestation of conformity.

Directive 89/106/EEC on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to construction products(1) stipulates that the CE marking must be affixed on the basis of the finalised European standard. However, testing carried out by an approved laboratory in accordance with the definitive final draft of a standard may subsequently be taken into account during the formal attestation of conformity procedures.

(1) OJ L 40, 11.2.1989.