European Commission Published Draft of New Construction Products Regulation
On 30 March 2022, the European Commission (EC) published the draft for a new Construction Products Regulation. With this concept, the EC wants to amend Regulation 2019/1020/EU (which concerns market surveillance and conformity of products) and to repeal the Construction Products Regulation 305/2011/EU. This article explains more about this process.
The Construction Products Regulation
The Construction Products Regulation 305/2011/EU, also known as the CPR sets out regulations for marketing construction products and the use of a CE marking. Do you wish to trade construction products within the European Union as a manufacturer, importer or distributor? Then you are required to attach a CE marking to all construction products that fall under European harmonised product standards. The goal of the CPR is a properly functioning internal market and free movement of construction products within the European Union.
Why implement a New Construction Products Regulation?
Practice has shown that the Construction Products Regulation has a number of important shortcomings. For example, the EC has not been able to develop harmonised product standards in recent years. As a result, existing product standards no longer matched developments in practice. The lack of new product standards also led Member States to use national quality marks, certifications and approvals in violation of the CPR. Furthermore, market surveillance differed greatly in the various Member States. These developments have undermined the proper functioning of the internal market.
In addition, it has become apparent that the provisions in the CPR are not always clear and often create a disproportionate administrative burden, especially for smaller companies.
The EC wants to remedy these shortcomings with a new regulation. In addition, the EC wants to accelerate the application of digital technologies with this new regulation and ensure that the policy priorities from the European Green Deal are met. In doing so, the EC wants to ensure that the building ecosystem will contribute to achieving climate and sustainability goals.
What Will Change?
With the draft regulation, the EC offers a range of tools to ensure the technical harmonisation system features better standards, reduce national barriers to trade for products covered by the regulation and improve enforcement and market surveillance. Regulations will also be simplified, which will reduce the administrative burden.
Are you a manufacturer of construction products? Then you must provide environmental information about the life cycle of your construction products. You will also have to meet various new obligations. For example, you must take sustainability requirements into account when designing your construction products and packaging, give preference to recyclable materials and materials obtained from recycling, and include instructions for use and repair of the products in your product databases.
To demonstrate that your products meet the EU requirements, you must draw up a declaration of performance and a declaration of conformity and attach the CE marking. You must also prepare technical documentation, describing the intended use and all elements necessary to demonstrate performance and conformity. This technical documentation must also include the mandatory or optional calculation of environmental sustainability.
Do you have any questions?
The draft regulation and the annexes (including the model of the declaration of performance/declaration of conformity) can be found on the website of the EC. Do you have questions about the CPR or the potential consequences of the draft regulation for your company? Please feel free to contact one of our experts. We are happy to help you out!