Construction products: CE label and Declaration of Performance (DoP)

On 1st July 2013, the (EU) REGULATION No. 305/2011 came into force in the European Parliament and Council, known as CPR (Construction Products Regulation), which laid down the harmonised conditions for the commercialisation of construction products in the European Economic Area (EEA) and which revokes the directive 89/106/EEC, known as CPD (Construction Products Directive).

It is immediately worth noting how an EU regulation is a more binding than a directive: in the latter case, the Union provides the individual member states with objectives but leaves them free to adopt laws, at their discretion, to achieve the results imposed; a regulation, on the other hand, must be applied throughout the entire European Union in all its aspects, becoming law immediately in every member state.

In particular, Regulation 305/2011 sets conditions for the entry of construction products onto the market as well as making them available, establishing harmonised arrangements for the description of the performance of these products, introducing numerous and important new aspects compared to the EEC Directive 89/106.

Firstly, the manufacturer is clearly identified, removing any doubt as to who is actually required to place the CE label on a product: “any physical or legal person who manufactures a construction product or who has the product designed or manufactured or sells it with their name and brand”.

Furthermore, there is also what will probably be the key new aspect compared to the CPD: this is a new document, known as DoP (Declaration of Performance) which, since the 1st July 2013, must be drafted by the manufacturer and which will accompany the construction product in line with harmonised reference standards or in line with ETA (European Technical Assessment, that is, the tool required to make the declaration

of performance to then apply the CE labelling on the products still not normalised or not completely normalised), at the point of it being launched onto the market and which replaces the previous “Declaration of Compliance”. The DoP should have the references of the notifying body and references of the test report that guarantees the declared performance.

Only after drafting the Declaration of Performance can the manufacturer place the CE label on the product. The result of this is that construction products can only be launched onto the market if accompanied by the DoP, which could be in paper format or availble in electronic format on the manufacturer’s website (see: : www.sctubes.com/certificazioni-di-conformita)

The CE labelling from here on in no longer just confirms that the product complies with the harmonised specific standards in question, but more generally represents the completion of a harmonised procedure where the performance of a construction product is guaranteed and declared.

On the contrary to what was foreseen in the overruled directive, the Declaration of Performance is a document (separate from the label) that always accompanies the product. One fundamental aim which the European Commission set its sights on when drawing up the regulation was not to define the safety of a construction product but to guarantee that precise, reliable information was provided.

In summing up, we should remember that, in drafting the DoP, the manufacturer assumes the responsiblity for the compliance of the construction products at each level of perfomance category declared in the DoP itself and that, with the subsequent CE labelling, they guarantee that they have drafter a DoP for that product. They should also assume the responsibility that it complies for each one of the performances declared and meets with all the other requirements applicable in the CPR and other European Union harmonisation legislation that requires the CE label.

As well as this, one other important aspect of the new Regulation regards the definition of the roles played by

operators in the sector, involving each one of them in the fulfillment of different roles.

In particular, these include:

The manufacturers (art. 11 of CPR) who, among other things, must provide the decalaration of performance and relative technical documentation, place the CE label on the product, withdraw their products from the market if they believe that they do not comply with the declaration of performance, enforce all the necessary procedures to re-establish their conformity in these cases and keep the documentation for a period of ten years.

The distributors (art. 14 of CPR), who in turn must ensure that:

• the product carries the CE label where it is meant to be

• the product carries the manufacturer’s name and logo

• the product carries its identification elements

• the product is accompanied by the relative documents, in particular, the DoP.

It should be remembered that the DoP is a legal document and so the distributor should not alter any parts of it in any way, leaving it unchanged as it was supplied by the manufacturer.

The distributor’s obligations and the actions they need to take if they feel a construction product (whether the product is still under their responsibility or whether a product has already been launched onto the market) is non-compliant and does not meet with the conditions expressed on its CE label, are very similar to those of the manufacturer, in other words, in synthesis, they must:

• not launch the product onto the market

• advise the manufacturer or importer,

as well as the market Surveillance Authority, when they believe a product poses one

of the risks mentioned above

• if it has already been launched onto the market, the distributor must ensure that all the necessary procedures are put in place to return to compliance (these procedures are the responsibility of the manufacturers and importers), even withdrawing or recalling the product from the market itself

• if the product in question has already been launched onto the market and poses a risk, the distributor must immediately inform the relevant authorities in the member state where the product has been distributed

• guarantee ideal storage conditions for the product and lastly, provide all the documentation if required by the competent authorities

• lastly, they need to be able to identify the economic operators to whom they supplied the product for 10 years after it was made available (again to meet requirements should the product subsequently prove to be non-compliant).

Lastly, it should be noted that a distributor can be considered a manufacturer if they launch a product onto the market with their name and brand or if they change it in any way to the extent that its compliance with the DoP has been altered.

Summing up, we can easily see how the passage from a Directive to a Regulation is a demonstration of the European Union’s will, over the last few years, to guarantee the application and respect of the rules, in order to guarantee greater market transparency, greater circulation of product information, greater safety and maximum respect for the environment.