OPINION: REGULATIONS


MARK OF APPROVAL


Regulations requiring all construction products to be ‘CE’ marked will come into force this year. Hywel Davies looks at their implications


The Construction Products Directive (CPD) was one of the


earliest outputs from the Single European Act, agreed by the then European community in 1986. The CPD was adopted in 1989,


and led to a surge in European standardisation, intended to deliver the single European market in construction products by 1992. The directive aimed to harmonise technical specifi cations throughout Europe, based on European Standards and European Technical Approvals (ETAs) for construction products. This covered many materials used


in buildings, including façades, but not heating and ventilating systems, lifts, fi re safety products or electrical and lighting services. These were the subject of their own individual directives, perhaps most notably the Lifts Directive, but also the Gas Appliances Directive, the Boiler Directive and the Machinery Directive. A product that met a harmonised


standard or an ETA could be ‘CE’ marked and placed on the market in any European state. (CE stands for conformité Européenne’). But the directive stated that such a product ‘may’ be CE marked. Rarely can so much discussion, debate and negotiation have hinged on a word. The UK implemented the directive exactly as worded, and did not require CE marking. Nor did Finland, Portugal or Ireland. So began two decades of debate


about the requirement for CE marking of construction products. The European Commission argued that the directive required the CE mark, and that the four countries not requiring it were in breach of EU law. UK lawyers argued that it was the Commission that was in breach. However, this has now come to a resolution. The Commission was


22 CIBSE Journal February 2012


The CE mark, currently used for water heaters, will cover all construction products


determined to require CE marking of construction products, and last year got their way. The new Construction Products Regulation (CPR) was adopted in 2011. Notice the name: directive has become regulation. This is not a play on words, it has real signifi cance. A directive must be implemented


by member states individually, by passing national legislation, or state by state legislation in federal or devolved territories, to implement the directive. In the UK this tends to be done by adopting the exact requirements and wording of the directive and nothing more, to avoid what is known as ‘gold plating’ of EU law, which is not permitted under UK law. A regulation, on the other hand, requires member states to do


precisely nothing. A regulation has direct effect, that is to say, it is automatically part of the law of each member state once adopted, and there is no need for implemention measures, nor scope for interpretation of the directive. So, now that we have the


Construction Products Regulation, what does it mean for the services sector? The main provisions will come into force in July 2013. It covers all ‘construction products’, which are: ‘Any product or kit which is produced and placed on the market for incorporation in a permanent manner in construction works or parts thereof and the performance of which has an effect on the performance of the construction works with respect to the basic requirements for construction works;’


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