To improve the internal market for construction products, the European Commission has today proposed to replace the “Construction Product Directive” (89/106/EEC)  by a new Regulation aiming to remove all remaining regulatory and technical obstacles to the free circulation of construction products in the European Economic Area. With 15% of EU manufacturing added value, but only 5% of intra-community trade, the construction sector is less open than other sectors of manufactured goods.

“Construction products” include more than 40 ranges of products such as doors, thermal insulating products, cement, roofing products or bricks. The proposal to substitute the “Construction Product Directive” for a new regulation aims at introducing a “common technical language” for expressing the performance of all these products, thus simplifying and clarifying the present situation. A clarification of procedures leading to CE marking is introduced as well, to reduce costs for manufacturers, whilst ensuring that the declaration of performance accompanying the product is accurate and reliable. Specific measures are also introduced to make life easier for micro-enterprises.

In particular architects will find it easier to obtain reliable information about the performances of the products they intend to use, facilitating their responsibility to ensure the safety of the construction works as required by respective national rules. Public administrations of Member States will also be able to make it easier for them to carry out their various tasks related to construction.

Also, the proposal contains precise rules for determining the obligations of all economic operators. Notably the situations when a manufacturer shall make a declaration of performance have been clearly defined. This will offer manufacturers a choice of declaring the performance of their products beyond the minimum requirements in place.

Vice-President Günter Verheugen, responsible for Enterprise and Industry policy said: “With this proposal we are continuing the drive to modernise EU legislation and cut unnecessary red-tape and over-regulation. My aim is to make life easier for industry and in particular for small enterprises. These changers will mean that construction products can be placed on the market at reduced costs and innovators can take advantage of simpler and more efficient procedures."

Procedures for micro-enterprises

In some specific situations, the procedures leading to CE marking will be simplified in order to significantly reduce the costs incurred to manufacturers. In particular, this goes for micro-enterprises (less than 10 staff) and for individual products, when significant safety concerns are not implied.

The standardisation processes under the proposed Regulation could also contribute to the new developments towards sustainable industrial policy by providing harmonised tools for its implementation, for example in the areas of energy efficiency or sustainable construction. Today’s proposal should thus be seen as complementary to other EU actions to enhance sustainable development.