Revision of the Construction Products Directive

The European Commission, with the support of the Member States, is pursuing a broad agenda of simplifying the regulatory environment in the EU and thus increasing the competitiveness of the European economy.

The construction sector has been identified as one of the priority areas for this work, to be addressed via a revision of the Construction Products Directive (CPD). The main objectives are more flexibility in the formulation and use of technical specifications, lighter certification rules, and elimination of the implementation obstacles.

Glass for Europe supports this initiative and is actively taking part in the consultation process.

We are in support of the idea of amending the CPD through means of a Regulation; of the clarification of the distinction between “basic requirements” and “product characteristics”; of the establishing of National Contact Points to assist manufacturers in determining which characteristics are covered by national regulations; and of the simplification of the rules on CE marking.

On the other hand, we feel that a requirement that each product be supplied with a copy of the Declaration of Conformity would be burdensome and unnecessary. Furthermore, we would like to see the new Regulation maintain the systems of attestations of conformity provided by the existing CPD.