Commission Recommendation of 11 December 2003 on the implementation and use of Eurocodes for construction works and structural construction products (Text with EEA relevance) (notified under document number C(2003) 4639)
Date: 2003-12-11
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European standard, building, building materials, civil engineering, harmonisation of standards, materials technology

L 332/62

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

19.12.2003

COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION

of 11 December 2003

on the implementation and use of Eurocodes for construction works and structural construction
products

(notified under document number C(2003) 4639)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2003/887/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(4)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com-
munity, and in particular the second indent of Article 211
thereof,

The disparities between the various calculation methods
referred to in national building regulations hinder the
free circulation of engineering and architectural services
within the Community. The use of Eurocodes should
facilitate the freedom to provide services in the field of
construction engineering and architecture by creating
the conditions for a harmonised system of general rules.

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

The Eurocodes are a series of European standards which
provide a common series of methods for calculating the
mechanical strength of elements playing a structural role
in construction works (hereinafter ‘structural construc-
tion products’). Those methods make it possible to
design construction works,
to check the stability of
construction works or parts thereof and to give the
necessary
construction
of
products.

dimensions

structural

the Member States

Council Directive 89/106/EEC of 21 December 1988 on
the approximation of laws, regulations and administra-
tive provisions of
relating to
construction products (1) concerns the establishment and
functioning of
for construction
the internal market
products, as provided for in Article 95 of the Treaty,
and applies to products covered by technical specifica-
tions, as referred to in Article 4 of Directive 89/106/
EEC.

in particular,

Structural construction products constitute an important
part of the construction products market and should
therefore be subject to the requirements laid down in
Directive 89/106/EEC and,
to the CE
marking requirements. In order to enable the producers
and notified bodies to assess the mechanical strength of
structural construction products, which is necessary for
their conformity assessment, the technical specifications
should refer to calculation methods developed in the
Eurocodes. The mechanical strength should be declared
as performance of the product in the documents which
accompany the CE marking, in accordance with Direc-
tive 89/106/EEC.

(1) OJ L 40, 11.2.1989, p. 12. Directive as last amended by Regulation
(EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council
(OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1).

(5)

(6)

The majority of structural construction products and
construction works are the subject of public contracts.
The Eurocodes are to be used by contracting authorities
in technical specifications pursuant to Article 14(1) and
(2) of Council Directive 92/50/EEC of 18 June 1992
relating to the coordination of procedures for the award
of public service contracts (2) and Article 10(1) and (2)
of Council Directive 93/37/EEC of 14 June 1993
concerning the coordination of procedures for the award
of public works contracts (3). Those directives provide
that the technical specifications for the award of public
services contracts and public works contracts are to be
given in the general documents or the contractual docu-
ments relating to each contract and that, without preju-
dice to the legally binding national technical rules and in
so far as they are compatible with Community law, such
technical
to be defined by the
are
contracting authorities by reference to national standards
implementing European standards.

specifications

The Eurocodes are also to be used pursuant to Article
18(2) of Council Directive 93/38/EEC of 14 June 1993
coordinating the procurement procedures of entities
operating in the water, energy, transport and telecom-
munications sectors (4), which provides that the technical
specifications are to be defined by those entities by refer-
ence to European specifications, where such exist. Addi-
tionally, Article 1(13) of Directive 93/38/EEC specifies
that, for the purposes of that Directive, ‘European speci-
fication’ is to mean a common technical specification, a
European technical approval or a national standard
implementing a European standard.

(2) OJ L 209, 24.7.1992, p. 1. Directive as last amended by the Act of

Accession of 2003.

(3) OJ L 199, 9.8.1993, p. 54. Directive as last amended by the Act of

Accession of 2003.

(4) OJ L 199, 9.8.1993, p. 84. Directive as last amended by the Act of

Accession of 2003.

19.12.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 332/63

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

(11)

(12)

Member States should take all necessary measures to
ensure that structural construction products calculated in
accordance with the Eurocodes may be used, and should
therefore refer to the Eurocodes in their national regula-
tions on design.

Member States should adopt Eurocodes for structural
products and construction works and recognise that the
use of those Eurocodes raises a presumption of confor-
mity with the essential requirements referred to in Direc-
tive 89/106/EEC.

In order to take into account specific geographical,
geological or climatic conditions as well as specific levels
of protection applicable in their territory, Member States
may need specific parameters and the Eurocodes there-
fore contain ‘nationally determined parameters’. For each
nationally determined parameter, the Eurocodes give a
recommended value. However, Member States may
choose a different specific value as the nationally deter-
mined parameter, if they consider it necessary in order
to ensure that building and civil engineering works are
designed and executed in a way that does not endanger
the safety of persons, domestic animals or property.

In order to achieve a higher level of harmonisation, a
comparison of the various nationally determined para-
meters implemented by the Member States should be
undertaken and, where appropriate,
they should be
aligned.

In the absence of technical specifications, as referred to
in Article 4 of Directive 89/106/EEC, it is necessary to
guarantee the free movement of structural construction
products the mechanical strength of which has been
assessed using Eurocodes. For that purpose, Member
States should include the Eurocodes in the national
provisions concerning such products.

The Eurocodes should facilitate the development of
common research efforts undertaken by various actors
in the Community and dissemination of the results of
that research, in particular through professional training.
This will result in safer building and civil engineering
works in the Community,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS:

1. Member States should adopt the Eurocodes as a suitable tool
for designing construction works, checking the mechanical
resistance of components, or checking the stability of struc-
tures. Member States should recognise that, in the case of
construction works designed using the calculation methods
there is a presumption of
described in the Eurocodes,
conformity with essential requirement No 1 ‘Mechanical
resistance and stability’, including such aspects of essential
requirement No 4 ‘Safety in use’ as relate to mechanical

resistance and stability, and with part of essential require-
ment No 2 ‘Safety in case of fire’, as referred to in Annex I
to Directive 89/106/EEC.

2. Member States should lay down the parameters usable in
their territory, hereinafter ‘the nationally determined para-
meters’.

3. Member States

the

should use

recommended values
provided by the Eurocodes when nationally determined
parameters have been identified in the Eurocodes. They
should diverge from those recommended values only where
geographical, geological or climatic conditions or specific
levels of protection make that necessary. Member States
should notify the Commission of the nationally determined
parameters in force on their territory within two years of
the date on which the Eurocodes become available.

4. Member States should, acting in coordination under the
direction of the Commission, compare the nationally deter-
mined parameters implemented by each Member State and
assess their impact as regards the technical differences for
works or parts of works. Member States should, at the
request of the Commission, change their nationally deter-
mined parameters in order to reduce divergence from the
recommended values provided by the Eurocodes.

5. In the absence of technical specifications, as referred to in
Article 4 of Directive 89/106/EEC, Member States should
refer to the Eurocodes in their national provisions on struc-
tural construction products.

6. Member States should undertake research to facilitate the
integration into the Eurocodes of the latest developments in
scientific and technological knowledge. Member States
should pool the national funding available for such research
so that it can be used at Community level to contribute to
the existing technical and scientific resources for research
within the Commission,
in cooperation with the Joint
Research Centre, thus ensuring an ongoing increased level
of protection of buildings and civil works, specifically as
regards the resistance of structures to earthquakes and fire.

7. Member States should promote instruction in the use of the
Eurocodes, especially in engineering schools and as part of
continuous professional development courses for engineers
and technicians.

Member States should inform the Commission of all national
measures taken in accordance with this Recommendation.

This Recommendation is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 11 December 2003.

For the Commission

Erkki LIIKANEN

Member of the Commission