New regulation on construction products
The European Commission has published a roadmap for the first steps in the implementation of the new CPR:
- after the completion of the legal-linguistic revision, which is now underway, the final English version will be published on 20 September 2024
- other language versions will then be published
- The new CPR is expected to enter into force in November 2024 (20 days after publication in the Official Journal of the EU)
- for products harmonised according to new CPR will be subject to the following obligations:
- from November 2025, a Global Warming Potential declaration will be required
- Declaration of environmental baseline indicators will be mandatory from November 2029
- from November 2031 it will be mandatory to report all environmental indicators for life cycle assessment of products
- By October 2026, Member States must notify the rules on penalties for infringements of the requirements of the new CPR.
The latest version of the new CPR is available at this link: Texts adopted - New Regulation on Construction Products - Wednesday, 10 April 2024 (europa.eu) - including translations into all EU languages (see icons on the top right). However, this is not yet the final form of the text.
The Regulation will replace the existing Regulation (EU) No 305/2011, establish harmonised rules for the placing on the market of construction products, strengthen the internal market and remove existing barriers to free movement on the market, and ensure that these products comply with the principles of the circular economy and Member States' regulatory requirements.
A key role of the legal framework is played by the harmonised technical specifications that must be used for the mandatory placing on the market of a product. Priority is given to the creation of standards and their harmonisation by publication of a reference in the Official Journal of the EU, but there will be a fall-back solution to allow the EC to adopt harmonised technical specifications through implementing acts in the event of a blocked standardisation system.
The new rules will promote sustainability and digitalisation in the field of construction products. The documents that the manufacturer must supply with the product will be able to be provided electronically. The digital product passport will also allow structured product data to be used, for example, in market surveillance or BIM design. The customer will be able to take sustainability into account when selecting a product, as the manufacturer will declare the environmental footprint of the product. The EC will be empowered to set minimum requirements for the environmental performance of construction products, which will be used by the contracting authority if it decides to apply sustainability requirements to the harmonised products in question in public procurement. This instrument will promote the sustainability of construction in the public sector.
The transition period from the old to the new legal framework will last for 15 years from the date of entry into force of the new Regulation (i.e. until 2039). This will ensure sufficient time for an orderly transition of harmonised technical specifications from the old legal framework to the new one and minimise the risk of de-harmonisation of any product or product group. Products will be transitioned to the new CPR gradually as harmonised standards developed according to the new standardisation requirements become available. Only in exceptional cases, if no new harmonised standards are developed for any products by 2039, such products would be de-harmonised.