Implementation of the Construction Products Regulation on track

On 7 July 2016, the European Commission adopted a new report on the state of the implementation of the Construction Products Regulation. The report shows that the implementation of the Regulation has started well globally, benefitting from the active involvement of stakeholders.

The Construction Products Regulation (CPR) was adopted in 2011 and lays down harmonised rules for the marketing of construction products in the EU. It ensures that reliable information is available to professionals, public authorities, and consumers, so they can compare the performance of products from different manufacturers in different countries.

This report on the CPR underlines satisfactory progress considering the significant changes brought by the Regulation to the functioning of the Internal Market for construction products, which has become simpler and clearer than before. For example, the electronic Declaration of Performance allows manufacturers to make their product declarations available to buyers electronically. Also, strict requirements for the notified bodies involved in assessment and verification procedures have helped increase the credibility of the CPR. This is beneficial to all actors involved, in particular to small companies which are the main actors in the construction sector.

The report also recalls that the CPR has only been fully applied since July 2013. Therefore it is still too early to draw any final conclusions. However, some areas show room for improvement, especially in the fields of harmonised standards and market surveillance, where still more needs to be achieved. Steps also need to be taken to better meet the expectations of SMEs, especially micro-enterprises.

To ensure a continuing successful implementation of the CPR, the Commission intends to reinforce the efforts already undertaken, in particular through the organisation of technical platforms open to the main relevant stakeholders and focusing on the key challenges identified in the report.