MEPs on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) are calling for the standardisation process for construction products to be improved and updated, particularly from an environmental point of view, in a report by Christian Doleschal (EPP, Germany) adopted by an overwhelming majority (44 votes in favour, 1 against and no abstention) on Thursday 28 January.
In particular, they note the relatively small number of new standards (only 12 new standards have been added in four years out of the 444 existing ones) since the adoption of the regulation in 2011.
They further note that a significant number of standards do not fully cover the basic requirements necessary for the use of construction products, which has led to additional national requirements, creating new normative barriers and fragmenting the internal market. Generally speaking, this situation, in addition to creating legal uncertainty for companies and architects, can lead to safety risks during construction work.
MEPs point out that the CE label used for construction products (allowing their sale in other Member States) only covers product performance, rather than quality and safety as for other products.
In addition, they want to combat the overlap between the CE label and the declaration of performance (DoP) and unnecessary duplication and administrative burdens. They insist that the revised rules should also apply to performance requirements concerning health, safety and environmental aspects.
In general, they believe that digital solutions could represent an exit route to fight fragmentation and red tape for the benefit of SMEs and micro enterprises. The Single Digital Gateway could play a role in this, they say.
They also call for more effective market surveillance. They invite the Commission to assess the benefits of using these technologies and to develop solutions for the intelligent integration of existing data that will be dispersed in different information systems.
The European Commission intends to present a revision of the Construction Products Regulation as part of the action plan on the circular economy, currently scheduled for the third quarter of 2021.
The text should be put to the vote at the February plenary session, we are told.
To see the report: https://bit.ly/3iV0JAE and the compromise amendments all adopted: https://bit.ly/3pw6wyY
To read the European Commission’s work programme: https://bit.ly/2MgAiJH (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)