The European construction industry associations European Builders Confederation (EBC), European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC), Construction Products Europe and Small Business Standards (SBS) call, in a joint offensive document published on Monday 7 September, for "pragmatic" and urgent measures to make the Construction Products Regulation (305/2011) operational and to relax the European regulatory framework.
Covid-19, Green Deal, circular economy... The challenges for the construction sector are many. As a result, all four organizations are “desperate” for updated standards. They openly criticise the “passive” attitude of the European Commission in updating the standards, generating a regulatory uncertainty that puts the sector, especially SMEs, in particularly difficult situations.
Faced with the urgency and noting that the effects of a revision of the regulation would only be felt at the end of the decade, the challenges of the standardisation system should be solved “as soon as possible” within the current legislative framework by “pragmatic solutions”, the signatories of the joint document stress.
According to the signatory organisations, standardisation should thus be an industry driven bottom-up process involving all concerned parties working together in a cooperative and flexible manner, in order to better take into account the multiplicity of views (in particular of SMEs).
On Friday 4 September, the European Commission launched a consultation to revise the Regulation, which has regularly been the subject of strong criticism since its adoption (see EUROPE 11705/10). The consultation will remain open until 25 December. Depending on the results of the consultation, the Commission could adopt a revision by the end of 2021.
To see the common position: https://bit.ly/3bxN7aK
To view the public consultation: https://bit.ly/336eqFl (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)