COMMISSION REPORT ON THE CONSTRUCTION-PRODUCTS DIRECTIVE
Date: 1996-05-15
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EC conformity marking, building materials, free movement of goods, harmonisation of standards, technical specification

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I  COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

Brussels,  15.05.19% 
COM(%) 202fwal 

COMMISSION REPORT ON 
THE CONSTRUCTION-PRODUCTS  DIRECTIVE 

COMMISSION  REPORT  ON 
THE CONSTRUCTION-PRODUCTS  DIRECTIVE 

Introduction 

The  aim  of  the  1988  Construction-Products  Directive1  is  to  ensure  the  free 
movement  of all construction  products throughout the Union. 

The  Directive  covers  a very  significant  area  of  EU  industrial  activity:  1.8  million 
businesses  operate  in  this  sector,  with  a  turnover  representing  almost  10%  of 
Community  GNP. 

Admittedly,  97%  of  these  firms  have  fewer  than  20  employees  and  are  active 
mainly  in regional  markets. 

Article 23  of  the  Directive  requires  the  Commission  to  report  on  the  operation  of 
the  Directive  by  31  December  1993  at  the  latest  and,  where  necessary,  to  submit 
proposals  for appropriate  amendments. 

In  an  earlier  communication,  the  Commission  announced  that  this  examination 
would  be  postponed  as  measures  implementing  the  Directive  still  needed  to  be 
adopted. 

Decisions  taken  in  1994 and  1995 have produced  a more complete  framework  for 
us to  assess  more  effectively  both the  operation  of the  Directive  and  the  need  for 
greater efficiency  in its  implementation. 

The  Group  of  experts  on  legislative  and  administrative  simplification,  better 
known  as  the  Molitor  Group,  believes  the  report  should  be  presented  as  soon  as 
possible (cf. extract in annex). 

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, 
11.2.1989, p. 12). 

II. 

Current situation 

The  Construction-Products  Directive  provides  a  general .legal  framework  for 
producing European technical  specifications. 

The  removal  of barriers  to trade essentially  depends  upon  the  adoption  of  these 
specifications,  namely  the  harmonised  standards  (i.e.  specifications  adopted  by 
the  CEN  or Cenelec  under  a Commission  mandate)  and  the  European  technical 
approvals,  the  latter  being  granted  for  products  for  which  no  harmonised  or 
national standards exist.2 

To this day, no technical specifications  have yet been adopted, with the result that 
no construction products bear the CE logo.  The Molitor Group has criticized this 
situation  in its report and has thus  stressed  the non-operational  nature  of  such a 
Directive. 

It  must  be  said  that  standards  and  technical  approvals  require  implementing 
decisions to be taken, the prior adoption of which certainly requires a long time. 

The  process  is  slow  because  the  Directive's  scope  is  so  broad  (covering  all 
construction  products,  from  cement  to  pipes,  from  sanitary  installations  to 
telegraph  poles)  and  because  certain  technical  aspects  are  not  perceived  in  the 
same way by Member States. 

Work  carried  out  in  recent  years  has  made  it  possible  to  clarify  the  approach 
needed.  Thus, the Commission has recently been able to adopt: 

documents interpreting the essential requirements3 (in January  1994); 

a  Decision  classifying  products  in  respect  of  fire  behaviour  tests  (in 
June 1994); 

The  Construction-Products  Directive  is  original  in  providing  for  two  types  of  technical 
specifications: 

harmonized  standards,  adopted  by  the  CEN/Cenelec,  as  in  the  case  of  other  "new 
approach" Directives; 
European  technical  approvals,  adopted  by  the  European  Organization  for  Technical 
Approval. 

The specific  field covered by each of these specifications  is provided for by the Directive. 
The existence of "documents interpreting essential requirements" is another original  feature  of the 
Directive.  They  aim  to  provide  a  link  between  essential  requirements  concerning  construction 
projects and features which have to be taken  into consideration by the technical specifications  for 
products. 

the  first  finalised  mandates  instructing  the  CEN  and  Cenelec  to  devise 
harmonised  standards  for  certain  families  of  products;  (heat-insulating 
products, doors, windows,  shutters,  gates  and  related  building  hardware, 
membranes,  precast  normal/lightweight/autoclaved  aerated  concrete 
products) (in October 1994); 

Decisions on the conformity  checking for those same product families  (in 
May 1995); 

decisions  on  conformity  checking  and  mandates  for  three  new  product 
families (in October 1995). 

A  great  many  other  decisions  are  being  prepared  for  other  product  families 
(masonry products, pipes, etc.). 

In  order  to  have  products 
All  these  measures  represent  significant  progress. 
bearing  the  CE  logo,  however,  such  decisions  need  to  be  incorporated  into 
technical approvals or standards. 

We  must  bear  in  mind  that  harmonised  standards  will  not  be  available  for  a 
significant number of products for at least five years. 

This is because: 

(a) 

for  most  construction  products,  trade  barriers  result  from  the  lack  of 
harmonised  tests  for  fire  behaviour  or  resistance.  For  the  Directive  to 
work  properly,  standardization  must  be preceded  by an approximation  of 
the basic regulations in this area. 

This  approximation  is  linked  to  the  functioning  of  the  Directive  even  if 
legally  it  has  to  take  place  through  regulations  on  works  not  directly 
covered  by the products  Directive.  Approximation  will therefore  require 
political  commitment.  If that  commitment  is  not  forthcoming  the  work 
will  be  very  slow,  delaying  the  adoption  of  harmonised  standards  even 
further; 

(b) 

the implementing decisions - particularly  standardization  mandates - have 
hitherto been adopted for only 7 product families  out of a total of at least 
40. 
The  Molitor  Group  considers  the  drafting  of  these  documents  to  be 
excessively slow. 

The  Member  States'  tendency  to  require  that  standardization  mandates 
include  all  the  essential  aspects  of  their  national  regulations  is  making 
each  drafting  process  take  as much  time  as  it  would  the  Commission  to 
adopt a Directive for each product family. 

Normally, the implementation of a 'new approach' Directive should  imply 
that  standardization  mandates  refer  to  nothing  other  than  the  essential 
requirements; 

(c) 

the operative part of the Directive is such that there can be no harmonised 
standard  until  all  the requirements  and required  characteristics  - deriving 
from  the  essential  requirements  -  for  a  particular  product  have  been 
harmonised. 

Thus for doors the existence of a harmonised "door" standard presupposes, 
inter alia, a  common  approach  to  test  methods  for  fire,  wind,  heat  and 
shock proofing, watertightness, airtightness, etc. 

The date on which the last standard for a specific test is adopted is thus the 
date on which the harmonised standard becomes available; 

(d) 

the  Directive  does  provide  for  an  alternative  to  harmonised  standards: 
European technical approval. 

Technical  approval  may  be  granted  to  products  for  which  standards  are 
unlikely to be available, i.e. innovative products.  Thus it can only be used 
as a supplement to standardization; 

(e) 

a final difficulty  is that the Directive can only be applied if standards exist. 
But  the  adoption  of  standards  depends  on  the  good  will  of  the 
standardizes. 

In addition, those involved  in standardization  feel  there is too large a gap 
between  their  priority  task  of  producing  the  standards  required  by  the 
market  (i.e.  quality  requirements)  and  the  too-narrow  vision  of  the 
harmonised  standards, which include only those aspects which need to be 
compulsory. 

The forwarding of the first mandates has already revealed that this is a real 
problem. 

It  is  vital,  therefore,  that  the  standardization  bodies  should  commit 
themselves  and  take  account  of  the  priorities  relating  to  the  mandates 
when planning and executing their tasks. 

III.  Consultations and questions 

It can  be  seen  from  the above that  technical  harmonization,  which  is the  aim  of 
the Directive, will only be achieved as a result of a slow and gradual process. 

Prior to drafting  this report, the Commission consulted the Member States and the 
representatives  of  industry  within  the  Standing  Committee  on  Construction  on 
27 September 1995. 

The contributions  received  stress that the results regarding  work  so far  achieved 
have  been  positive  and  encouraging,  but  also  acknowledge  that  there  will  be 
difficulties  in applying the Directive properly. 

Virtually  all the parties agree that the correct response would  be to speed  up the 
implementation  work  on  the  Directive  and  clarify  a number  of  questions  about 
which  there  is still  uncertainty,  such  as  those currently  arising  from  the  lack  of 
technical  specifications. 

IV.  The options 

The  fact  that  a  Directive  adopted  in  1988  is  only  being  implemented  gradually 
and slowly cannot be regarded as wholly satisfactory.  It is necessary to reflect on 
the ways and means of increasing efficiency  in this respect, namely by 

( 1 ) 

a commitment from the Member States in the following three areas: 

(a) 

in  the  area  of  fire  regulations,  harmonised  standards  cannot  be 
adopted  until  common  tests  have  been  adopted  to  assess  a 
product's fire behaviour.  The Commission has taken a first step in 
this direction by defining product classes in this area.  It still has to 
define the necessary tests for each of these classes. 
The technical work is flagging. 
Political impetus is needed; 

(b) 

in the area of works regulations, a lot of work has been carried out 
on a voluntary basis, in the form of Eurocodes in order to draw up 
common codes on works structures. 

Effective  harmonization  of  the  products  used  in  these  works 
presupposes  a  commitment  from  the  Member  States  to  take 
account of the Eurocodes in their national regulations; 

(c) 

the 

transitional  period  preceding 

during 
the  adoption  of 
harmonised  standards,  Member  States  ought  to  work  to  facilitate 
the mutual recognition of tests on products in a systematic manner. 

A more active policy on mutual recognition should deal with those 
cases where construction products are refused  on the grounds  that, 
although  they  have  been  checked  in  the  country  of  origin,  the 
country  of  destination  refuses  to  become  aware  of  or  recognize 
their conformity; 

(2) 

changes adapted to needs in applying the Directive: 

(a) 

simplifying the decision-making procedures 

This  could  cover  decisions  on  the  checking  and  certification  of 
conformity and standardization mandates; 

standardization  mandates: it should be stressed that the drafting  of 
standards  does  not presuppose  that  standardization  mandates  take 
account  of  all  of  the  requirements  of  the  national  regulations. 
What is more, these mandates are only contracts asking experts to 
draft  specifications.  A  return  to  more  general  and  less  specific 
mandates  will  enable  them  to  be  adopted  and  applied  in  a  more 
flexible manner; 

themselves 

to  applying  consistently 

for decisions on the certification  of product conformity,  all parties 
should  commit 
the 
methodology  devised  for  exercising  a  choice  between  the  two 
main options, manufacturer's declaration and certification.  Also, if 
several  product  families  were  grouped  together  in  a  single 
.decision,  this  would  avoid  the  need  for  taking  forty  different 
implementing decisions (and thus a great deal of red tape); 

(b) 

enlightened  implementation  of  the  Directive  owing  to  the  new 
approach _ 

It is not advisable to defer implementation of the Directive until all 
of 
the  requirements  established  for  a  product  have  been 
harmonised.  The test methods for a number of those requirements 
need still to be developed.  Any  such method of procedure  would 

push  any  tangible  results  of  the  standardization  activities  as  a 
whole into the distant  future. 

Where there are no harmonised  standards and technical  approvals, 
a  producer  has first of  all  the  right  to  demand  application  of  the 
principle  of mutual  recognition  by  invoking  the  provisions  of the 
Treaty  on the free  movement of goods as interpreted  by the Court 
of Justice  in  its case  law, subject  to  justified  restrictions  pursuant 
to Article 36 (consumer protection, safety and health). 

Secondly, producers should be given greater scope to declare that a 
product meets the essential  Community  requirements on the basis 
of  the  existing  interpretative  documents,  even  if  not  all  of  the 
harmonised standards are available yet. 

This  opportunity  should  not  only  make  access  to  the  CE  logo 
easier  for  manufacturers,  but  also  allow  the  Community  to 
concentrate  its  activities  on  the  essential  harmonised  standards, 
thus avoiding tendencies towards over-regulation and the imposing 
of excessive burdens on manufacturers. 

V. 

Conclusions 

The implementation of the Directive gives rise to difficulties. 

To overcome them: 

the  Commission  should  undertake to clarify  the detailed  rules  for  implementing 
the Directive, speed up the work and draw up a suitable work plan; 

the  Member  States should  avoid  insisting on a multitude of detailed  rules  in the 
implementing provisions; 

the  European  Committee  for  Standardization  should  commit  itself  to  actually 
putting in place a programme to develop harmonised standards. 

In  view  of  the  scope  thus  offered  for  improving  the  way  in  which  the  Construction-
Products Directive is applied, the Commission does not consider it appropriate to propose 
amending the Directive at this stage. 

It will, however, monitor the situation very closely over the next two years. 

At  the  end  of  that  period,  it  reserves  the  right  to  propose  any  amendments  deemed 
necessary on the basis of the prevailing situation. 

Moreover,  use  could  be  made  of  these  two  years  by  the  relevant  departments,  to 
deliberate,  in  conjunction  with  the  Standing  Committee  on  Construction,  on  the 
functioning  of the internal market as regards construction products. 

ANNEX 

MOLITOR GROUP 
CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS 

CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS 

16.  At the beginning  of  1994, the Atkins Report  stressed  the importance  of the  building 
sector  for  Europe's  competitiveness.  "Construction  is  an  industry  in  which  Europe  can 
beat  the  world.  But  there  is  a  danger  of  failing  to  grasp  the  opportunities  and  allowing 
the markets  in Europe  and the quality  of construction  to decline.  There  is  still  much  that 
can  be  done  to  make  the  industry  stronger  and  to remove  some  of  its weaknesses  and  to 
improve the built  environment  of Europe".  Competitiveness  in the construction  industry 
the 
could  be 
European  Union. 

free  movement  of  products  within 

improved  by 

the  effective 

Directive  89/106/EEC,  amended  in  1993 and  hereinafter  referred  to  as the  Construction-
Products Directive, aims to remove impediments to the free  movement of products due to 
differences: 

in standards, testing and certification  of conformity  procedures, or 
in the national  laws on construction products. 

18.  The  Construction-Products  Directive  is one of the  "new approach"  Directives. It  lays 
down  the  essential  requirements  applicable  to  building  structures  as  a  whole  and  not  to 
the various construction  products: 

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* 
* 
* 
* 

mechanical  strength and  stability 
safety  in the event of  fire 
hygiene, health and the  environment 
safety  in use 
protection  against  noise 
energy  saving and heat  insulation. 

19.  This  means  that  Member  States  can  only  authorize  access  to  the  market  of  those 
construction  products  possessing  the  qualities  such  that  the  construction  work  in  which 
they are used  satisfies  the essential requirements of the Directive. 

20.  In contrast  to the  other  "new  approach"  Directives, the  essential  requirements  of  the 
Construction-Products  Directive  have  been  embodied  in  interpretative  documents.  The 
latter  serve  as  a  basis  for  drafting  European  harmonised  standards  or  other  technical 

specifications  established  at  European  level,  or  for  the  establishment  or  conferring  of 
European  technical  approval  or for the recognition  of national technical  specifications. 

21.  The  CEN  (European  Committee  for  Standardization)  is  responsible  for  drafting 
European  harmonised  standards  relating  to  construction  products.  To  be  able  to  use  the 
CE  logo, the product  must conform  to the European  technical  specifications,  which  are: 

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European  harmonised  standards  (European  bodies: CEN, Cenelec); 
European  technical  approvals  (European  body:  EOTA); 
recognized  national  technical  specifications. 

The CE  logo indicates that products conform  to the European  technical  specifications  that 
apply  to  them.  To  certify  this,  conformity  procedures  have  to  be  applied.  In  principle, 
two methods are possible: 

1.  a statement of conformity  provided  by the  manufacturer, 
2.  a certificate  of conformity  issued  by a notified  body. 

22.  Although  the  Construction-Products  Directive  was  adopted  in  1988  and  its 
transposition  was  set at 27 June  1991 at the  latest,  seven  years  later  the  building  industry 
is still  not able to use the CE logo  for construction  products. 

There are several  reasons  for this  stagnation: 

the drafting  of  mandates  conferred  on  the  CEN  for  the drawing  up of  harmonised 
standards  takes  too  long.  Only  four  of the  80 documents  needed  have  so  far  been 
finalised  and  progress  is therefore  much too slow; 

in  contrast  to  the  other  "new  approach"  Directives,  the  Construction-Products 
Directive  does  not  enable  manufacturers  to  use the  CE  logo  directly  for  products 
which  meet  the  essential  requirements  of the  Directive.  The  CE  logo  can  only  be 
affixed  if the product  meets the harmonised  European  technical  specifications.  In 
practice,  this  means  that  manufacturers  cannot  use the  CE  logo  since  there  arc  no 
harmonised  technical  specifications. 

23.  For  the  time  being,  the  new  approach  does  not  work  in  the  construction-products 
sector.  As  long  as  there  are  no  harmonised  standards  or  other  technical  specifications, 
there  will  be  no  free  movement  of  construction  products.  These  products  must  still 
satisfy  differing  national  requirements,  which  is detrimental  to the competitiveness  of the 
European  construction  industry. 

Proposal  11 

10 

The  drafting  of  European  harmonised  standards  for  construction  products  should  he 
speeded  up.  In  the  meantime,  the  Commission  must  put forward  proposals  to  achieve 
the  review 
these  aims  while  completing  and  implementing  as  quickly  as  possible 
provided for  in Article  23 of  the  Construction  Products  Directive  (89/106/EEC),  and/or 
enabling  manufacturers 

to sell  their products  in  other  Member  States. 

11 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(96) 202 final 

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