To this day, the nature of conformity assessment is often unclear to many practitioners. We therefore provide here an explanation of the issue as we have received it from the certification body. It is essential to respect the new Building Act, which sets out requirements for construction products, refers to other legal standards and these requirements must be met.
Law No. 22/1997 Coll. as amended regulates the method of setting technical requirements for products that could endanger to an increased extent the health or safety of persons, property or the environment or other public interest, as well as the rights and obligations of persons who place on the market or distribute or put into service products that could endanger to an increased extent a legitimate interest.
The Government makes regulations specifying products which pose a heightened threat to a legitimate interest and which must therefore be assessed for conformity ("specified products"). For construction products, this is Government Regulation No. 163/2002 Coll. as amended by Government Regulation No. 312/2005 Coll. which is the implementing regulation for conformity assessment. Specified products under Article 12(1)(a) of Act No 22/1997 Coll. are the construction products listed in Annex 2 to this Regulation. This conformity assessment applies to products whose technical parameters are set out in Czech technical standards and European technical standards.
A. If the European technical standards are not harmonised to REGULATION (EU) No 305/2011 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 9 March 2011 laying down harmonised conditions for the marketing of construction products and repealing Council Directive 89/106/EEC, which is known as the European Construction Directive, then the conformity assessment applies according to the national system, i.e. according to Government Regulation No 163/2002 Coll. as amended by Government Regulation No 312/2005 Coll. This obligation is incumbent on those who place products on the market. Such a body may be :
manufacturer - a person who manufactures or even just designs a product and, in cases provided for by the Government Regulation, also a person who assembles, packages, processes or labels a product for which he is responsible under Act No. 22/1997 Coll. and which he intends to place on the market under his own name
authorised representative - a person established in a Member State of the European Union who is authorised in writing by the manufacturer to act on his behalf with regard to the requirements arising for the manufacturer from Act No 22/1997 Coll.
distributor - one who carries out downstream commercial activities in the supply chain after the product has been placed on the market.
Conformity assessment is carried out by an authorised person.
B. If the European technical standards are harmonised to REGULATION (EU) No 305/2011 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 9 March 2011 laying down harmonised conditions for the marketing of construction products and repealing Council Directive 89/106/EEC, then the conformity assessment is carried out according to the European system, i.e. according to Government Regulation No 190/2002 laying down technical requirements for CE marked construction products. This obligation is incumbent on those who place products on the market. Such a body may be :
manufacturer - a person who manufactures or even just designed a product and, in cases provided for in the Government Regulation, also a person who assembles, packages, processes or labels a product for which he is responsible under Act No. 22/1997 Coll. and which he intends to place on the market under his own name
authorised representative - a person established in a Member State of the European Union who is authorised in writing by the manufacturer to act on his behalf with regard to the requirements arising for the manufacturer from Act No 22/1997 Coll.
distributor - one who carries out downstream commercial activities in the supply chain after the product has been placed on the market.
Conformity assessment is carried out by a notified body.
Technical standards harmonized to EU Council Directive No. 305/2011 of 9 March 2011, for which the conformity assessment according to the European system, i.e. according to the Government Regulation No. 190/2002 Coll. was applicable, do not know the concept of "specified product", in the annexes No. ZA1, 2 and 3 in the specific standard, the tables list the scope of tests that must be carried out by the manufacturer, the scope of tests and measurements to be carried out by the notified body and also the method of conformity assessment, which sets out the scope of activity of the notified body for a given specific product. According to the new version of EU Council Directive 305/2011 of 9 March 2011, the terminology of the documents issued has changed. For a construction product placed on the market covered by a harmonised standard or for which a European Technical Assessment (equivalent in meaning to a Construction Technical Certificate) has been issued, a Declaration of Performance (equivalent to an EC Declaration of Conformity) is issued in relation to the essential characteristics of the construction product concerned in accordance with the relevant harmonised technical specifications. The full application of all provisions of EU Council Directive 305/2011 applies from 1 July 2013.
After the accession of the Czech Republic to the EU, importers of construction products became distributors and the term importer is used for entities that import products from non-EU countries. The current legislation, i.e. Act No. 22/1997 Coll. as amended in § 13b, allows any construction product to be imported into the Czech Republic.
The important step is to incorporate the product in question into the building. The term permanent incorporation of a construction product into buildings implies the requirement to meet the basic requirements for buildings set out in Annex 1 to Government Regulation No.163/2002 Coll. as amended by Government Regulation No.312/2005 Coll., whereby the permanent incorporation of a product into a building is such incorporation in which the removal or replacement of the product permanently changes the characteristics of the building, the removal or replacement of the product being construction work.
Law No.183/2006. on Spatial Planning and Building Code (Building Act) sets out the requirements for buildings as follows :
§156 (1) Only such products, materials and constructions may be designed and used for a building whose characteristics in terms of the suitability of the building for the purpose proposed guarantee that the building, when properly constructed and normally maintained for the period of its expected existence, will meet the requirements for mechanical resistance and stability, fire safety, hygiene, health and environmental protection, safety in the maintenance and use of the building, including barrier-free use of the building, protection against noise, and energy conservation and heat protection.
§156 (2) Products for the building, which are of decisive importance for the resulting quality of the building and pose an increased level of threat to legitimate interests, shall be determined and assessed in accordance with special legal regulations, which are Act No. 22/1997 Coll., on technical requirements for products and on amendment and supplementation of certain acts, as amended. Government Regulation No. 163/2002 Coll., laying down technical requirements for selected construction products. Government Regulation No. 190/2002 Coll. laying down technical requirements for CE marked construction products is repealed and replaced by REGULATION (EU) No. 305/2011 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL.
The practical consequence is that the obligation to demonstrate compliance with the legal requirements for the technical characteristics of construction products has shifted from importers to those who incorporate into the construction. They must prove to the investor that they meet the basic requirements for construction products incorporated into the building listed in Annex 1 to Government Decree No.163/2002 Coll. as amended by Government Decree No.312/2005 Coll. and that the declared technical parameters of the products are met by an independent person in the form of a declaration of conformity issued on the basis of conformity assessment documents.
In case there is a technical standard harmonized to EU Council Directive No. 305/2011 of 9 March 2011 for a construction product, any notified body shall carry out conformity assessment according to the European system, i.e. according to Government Regulation No. 190/2002 Coll. and according to Annex No. ZA 2 in the specific standard shall carry out the necessary tests and assess conformity according to the procedure specified in the given hEN for the specific product. On the basis of this assessment, the notified body issues an EC declaration of performance which is valid in all EU countries.
In the field of environmental engineering, HENs are issued for central heating radiators and for radiant ceiling panels. These products are assessed in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council and are issued with an EC certificate of conformity and the manufacturer issues an EC declaration of performance on the basis of this document.
In the field of air handling systems, which includes fans, the standards are not yet harmonised to EU Council Directive 305/2011 of 9 March 2011 and therefore the national system of conformity assessment according to Government Regulation 163/2002 Coll. as amended by Government Regulation 312/2005 Coll. applies. The CE marking on fans refers only to electric motors (electrical installation) and is confused with the CE marking of a construction product with the relevant description, the number of the notified person and the verification of the technical characteristics of the product.
We will all have to wait in the EU for the labelling of fans as construction products until the harmonised standards come out in the Official Jounal in Brussels (similar to the laws in the statute book).
Sincerely
Ing. Miroslav Kunecký
Výzkumný ústav pozemních staveb
Certification Company, s.r.o.
NO 1516, AO 227; CO 3009; 3013; 3086; AZL 1234
Pražská 16, 102 21 Praha 10 - Hostivař
tel. 670 662 429
e-mail: m.kunecky@vups.cz
Secretariat of the company Prague 10
tel.: 271 751 148; fax: 281 017 241
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www.vups.cz