EEA EFTA Comment on the review of the Construction Products Regulation

On 18 February 2021, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway submitted a joint EEA EFTA Comment on the possible review of (EU) No 305/2011 (Construction Products Regulation). The aim of the Construction Products Regulation is to improve the free movement of and secure a single market for construction products in the EU. This is achieved by laying down uniform rules for the marketing of these products and by providing a common technical language to assess the performance of construction products.

The legislative framework of the Construction Products Regulation has exposed its shortcomings. The European Commission has identified five different policy options for a possible review of the Regulation, ranging from no revision of the Construction Products Regulation to repealing it.

In the Comment, the EEA EFTA States express that many of the shortcomings of the Construction Products Regulation could be solved within the current system and without a complete revision. The EEA EFTA States find that a complete revision of the Construction Products Regulation would create an unstable and unfavourable situation for all construction product actors, including market surveillance authorities.

The Comment notes among other things that there is a need to eliminate confusion regarding the scope of the Construction Products Regulation. It could be useful to continue to enhance the relevant information efforts to reduce the uncertainty linked to the scope of the Regulation.

Furthermore, the experience of the EEA EFTA States shows that there is room for improvement as regards making information available to the consumer on the CE marking and Declaration of Performance.

When it comes to notified bodies, the view of the EEA EFTA States is that the function of the notified bodies could be improved within the current legislation. It will be important to clearly target the possible improvements without creating new administrative burdens.

Read the full text of the EEA EFTA Comment here. 

A full list of EEA EFTA Comments is available here.