On May 26, 2021, within the framework of the project of the Federal Ministry of Economy and Energy of Germany and the «Expert Dialogue on Technical Regulation with the EAEU» of the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce, a webinar was held on the topic «The European system of regulation of construction products-an overview of the German side».
The event is part of a series of webinars on the exchange of experience in the application of European (EU) and Eurasian (EAEU) regulatory systems in the market of construction products and products.
The webinar was organized by the Russian-German Chamber of Foreign Trade, the Federal Ministry of Economy and Energy of Germany and the German Institute of Construction Technology (DIBt).
During the webinar, experts from the German Institute of Construction Technology – the central construction agency of Germany-presented the European system of regulation of construction products to construction industry specialists from Russia and other EAEU member states.
Matthias Schepp, Chairman of the Board of the Russian-German Chamber of Foreign Trade, delivered a welcoming speech. He noted that today it is very important to maintain and develop cooperation between Russia and Germany, especially in the field of technical regulation. An important role in this is played by the expert dialogue on technical regulation with the EAEU, which is conducted by the Russian-German Chamber of Foreign Trade with the support of the German Ministry of Economy and Energy.
On behalf of the German Ministry of Economy and Energy, the participants were welcomed by the Head of the Department, Gerhild Roth. She informed about the importance of the dialogue on technical regulation, which promotes the removal of technical barriers and the exchange of best practices between the relevant departments of the advising ministries and departments, as well as representatives of industry and authorities of different countries.
Gerhard Breitschaf, President of DIBt, opened a series of reports on the regulatory system of construction products in Germany and the European Union with a presentation on «Safe construction objects from reliable construction products – how the European and German regulatory system of construction products works and what is the role of the German Institute of Construction Technology in it». He spoke about the rules for the construction of various facilities in force in Germany and the European Union, in terms of the safety of the materials used and the control of their operational characteristics. According to Gerhard Breitschaft, it is impossible to ensure 100% security, but it is possible to minimize the risks. To this end, DIBt performs numerous tasks and contributes to the safety of buildings in Europe, as a notifying body in the construction industry.
Kerstin Abend, Head of the Legal Department of DIBt, spoke in more detail about the EU legislation and EU Regulation 305/2011 / on the establishment of harmonized conditions for the distribution of construction products on the market. European legislation took a big step forward with the adoption of the Building Materials Regulation in 2011. Today, it is a voluminous document that includes 68 different appendices. These annexes contain both the national requirements of the EU Member States in the field of the use of building materials, and the rules for the preparation of two important documents for the assessment of the conformity of construction products:
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European Assessment Document.
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Declaration of Conformity.
The purpose of the Building materials Regulation is to ensure that they are used in accordance with the requirements of the building and construction regulations in force in the EU Member States.
Johanna Bartling, Head of Standardization at DIBt, dedicated her report to the challenges facing European standardization and the process of developing standards for building products. As an example, she chose Eurocode 6 «Building brick walls». If we analyze the text of the document, we can conclude that most of the standards for the construction of brick walls are voluntary, but they become mandatory when they are mentioned either in the national legislation of the EU member States or in the national annexes to the Building Materials Regulation. «European standardization is a tool to protect and strengthen the European internal market,» concluded Johanna Bartling.
The issues of the European technical assessment as an instrument of the EU Regulation on Building Materials were highlighted in his speech by Matthias Springborn, an employee of the German Institute of Construction Technology. The European Technical Assessment Document is an alternative way to obtain and develop a harmonized standard or to mark it with the CE mark. It contains the declared operational characteristics of the building material, for compliance with which tests were conducted. The process of obtaining a European technical assessment document can take from one year to several weeks. It all depends on the availability of accompanying documentation for specific construction products, the availability of information about the tests carried out.
Heidelinde Fiege, Head of the Compliance Recognition and Notification Department at DIBt, spoke about the activities of the German Institute of Construction Technology as a notifying authority in the field of construction products in Germany. In Germany, there is one notifying body-the German Institute of Construction Machinery (DIBt). Product testing can be carried out in 126 different laboratories located both in Germany and in the European Union.
The need to conduct tests in a notified body is defined in the regulatory documents for construction materials and products.
Ulrike Stangner, spoke about the supervision of the market for harmonized construction products. She noted that one of the functions of the German Institute of Construction Machinery is to supervise the quality and safety of construction products that are traded in the German domestic market. Moreover, market surveillance is carried out by a proactive method, i.e., DIBt tests products that it receives from state bodies that perform product control tasks when they are traded on the market.
During the discussion, the work of the expert group on building materials of the Council for Technical Regulation and Standardization for the Digital Economy of the RSPP Committee and the Eastern Committee of the German Economy was presented. Within the group, in order to bring the requirements for construction products closer together, it is proposed to implement a pilot project to identify problems with certification. For example, you can check the fire resistance of specific building materials to determine whether it is possible to harmonize product requirements in Russia and Germany. The first step is to select laboratories for testing product samples.
N. Lotsmanov, Deputy Co-Chairman of the RSPP Committee of Industrial Policy and Technical Regulation, took part in the discussion. «Our Committee has been cooperating for many years with the German Ministry of Economy and Energy, the German Institute of Construction Machinery, and we have held many joint events. Today we have received a large amount of useful information, which will be discussed in more detail during the work of the expert group «Building Materials» of the Council for Technical Regulation and Standardization for the Digital Economy of the RSPP Committee and the Eastern Committee of the German Economy.» - said A. N. Lotsmanov. The topic of the webinar is all the more relevant now, given that the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission decided to develop the Technical Regulations of the EAEU «On the safety of construction materials and products».
Gerhild Roth, summing up the results of the event, expressed her gratitude to A. N. Lotsmanov for his contribution to the webinar, and invited Russian specialists to participate in the next webinar.
The webinar materials will be posted on the websites of the RSPP Committee on Industrial Policy and Technical Regulation and the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce.
