CE Marking of Construction Products—Evolution of the European Approach to Harmonisation of Construction Products in the Light of Environmental Sustainability Aspects
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- −
- Mechanical resistance and stability (ER 1);
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- Safety in the case of fire (ER 2);
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- Hygiene, health and the environment (ER 3);
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- Safety in use (ER 4);
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- Protection against noise (ER 5);
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- Energy economy and heat retention (ER 6).
- (a)
- reuse or recyclability of the construction works, their materials and parts after demolition;
- (b)
- durability of the construction works;
- (c)
- use of environmentally compatible raw and secondary materials in the construction works”.
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results
- The first option (A) is based on the general assumption that the increase of implementation effectiveness could be achieved via further use of informative guidance or soft law measures covering specific points of the regulation, without amendment of its main text. This action could concentrate mainly on specific market-relevant issues, as the necessary content of the declaration of performance and CE marking, use of derogations described in art. 5 and simplified procedures for SMEs. As the standardisation appears to be the critical point for the Commission, this option covers improved cooperation with CEN and the comprehensive execution of the Action 5 of the Joint Initiative on Standardisation (JIS) [40] that should result in the publication of higher quality harmonised standards. Option A also implies further improvement of the performance of EOTA. However, due to a rather positive assessment of this performance expressed in preliminary results of the enquiry [41], such action could be perceived more as a business, a usual scenario, than a revolutionary one. Therefore, practically it does not bring additional administrative loads in comparison to the current situation. Regarding further inclusion of environmental aspects of construction products, the baseline scenario does not provide new fields of improvement. However, the main blockage of implementation of BWR 7 and BWR 3, together with the AVCP decisions, could be easily lifted when a significant backlog in the standardisation area is solved. As stated before, the EOTA route seems to be generally open and ready to take fully on board mentioned BWRs.
- More comprehensive actions concentrated on potential complex repair of the regulation are presented as the second review option (B). Under this scenario, implementation of the current CPR would be practically stopped for years as all the Commission’s human resources would be involved in the review process [18]. Such revision could concentrate on coherence with the other pieces of EU legislation, an improvement on the route of development and potential adoption of harmonised specifications and specific measures necessary to implement environmental and circular economy principles. For innovation, the EC proposes a kind of temporary and preliminary CE marking based on draft harmonised specifications. What is most important, this option includes another distribution of the task and responsibilities in developing and adopting harmonised technical specifications. The whole responsibility would remain in the hands of the legislator (EC). The EC would also be empowered to precise additionally the area of technical harmonisation by delegated acts. According to the EC, this would open the possibility to the Member States to set additional technical requirements, including sustainability-related ones, without being in potential contradiction with the exhaustiveness principle. Under option B Commission also presents specific tools exclusively dedicated to environmental issues, such as Environmental Verification Organisations that could potentially take over some tasks from Notified Bodies. The most important is complete “repair of the CPR” using tools of option B would be a long-term process that would strongly involve the EC, national authorities, the industry and the other stakeholders. For example, developing completely new CPR Acquis (including technical specifications and supplementing acts) based on a current one could take between five to ten years [18].
- The third option (C) concerns partial focusing of the CPR to improve its coherence and versatility, using mechanisms for development and adoption of harmonised specifications as presented under option B. The harmonised language would be limited strictly to the performance assessment methods applicable to defined products and intended uses. Such an approach would exclude the common expression of performance and single specification per product type principle used in the construction world for decades. Therefore, the scope of the harmonisation could be restricted to groups of products relevant from the point of view of technical regulations of the Member States, environment and EU internal market. No specific improvement can be identified as regards the implementation of environmental or sustainability principles.
- Under option D, widening of the scope of the CPR is considered to include additionally inherent safety, health and environmental aspects of products (not included or not completely included in the current hENs). Therefore, sub-option D1 considers that product-related requirements could be applied more in line with the “New Approach” philosophy. In such a case, essential requirements would be formulated in the standardisation request, based on which CEN would develop voluntary harmonised standards. The use of voluntary standards would give a non-exclusive assumption of conformity with the requirements. Sub-option D2 includes the possibility that specific product-related requirements would be covered in harmonised technical specifications developed according to option B’s assumptions. Such a solution would be closer to the assumptions of the “Old Approach” philosophy.
- Finally, the Commission announced an option (E) with a possible repeal of the Regulation, with no replacement. This approach would totally switch the construction product market from current EU legislation to the EU mutual recognition principle. Taking into account that in such a case, member states would be given again the freedom to regulate without the use of common technical language, renaissance of national systems, national environmental and sustainability assessment schemes, and potential trade barriers could be expected.
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
- This study shows high potential and relevance of continuation of the current regulatory framework for marketing of construction products. However, to unlock the capability of environmental sustainability, increased standardisation activity is needed in conjunction with smooth cooperation with the legislator. For support of innovation, no structural change is required as further development can be achieved with the BAU approach.
- The results of the research can be used in the process of policy formation or evaluation both on a national and international level. It provides qualitative analysis of the legislation (past, current) and publicly available policy revision options to identify future points of legal development that could connect low burden for the industry and national administrations with the general improvement of European harmonisation and with progress for sustainability and innovation in the construction sector.
- This study was based on literature research and on the author’s own professional experience. No additional public consultation of the findings was carried out.
- The article considers the situation of the end of April 2021. Further studies will be conducted when the draft of the new Construction Product Regulation is published, likely at the beginning of 2022.
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
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Option | Harmonisation | Innovation | Sustainability | Administrative |
---|---|---|---|---|
A | medium | medium | medium | low |
B | medium | low | medium | high |
C | low | low | medium | high |
D | high | low | high | high |
E | low | low | low | high |
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Wall, S. CE Marking of Construction Products—Evolution of the European Approach to Harmonisation of Construction Products in the Light of Environmental Sustainability Aspects. Sustainability 2021, 13, 6396. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116396
Wall S. CE Marking of Construction Products—Evolution of the European Approach to Harmonisation of Construction Products in the Light of Environmental Sustainability Aspects. Sustainability. 2021; 13(11):6396. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116396
Chicago/Turabian StyleWall, Sebastian. 2021. "CE Marking of Construction Products—Evolution of the European Approach to Harmonisation of Construction Products in the Light of Environmental Sustainability Aspects" Sustainability 13, no. 11: 6396. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116396