Britpave Barrier Systems (BBS) has become aware of misleading comments made on the CE marking of in situ concrete barriers within the European market. To clarify, BBS and its Licensees continue to enjoy full CE-marking status and this has been re-confirmed in recent formal announcements from Brussels.
Background
Britpave Barrier Systems Ltd (BBS), a UK-based company, has an EC Certificate of Conformity for the in situ concrete barriers that it licenses for manufacture across Europe. The EC Certificate of Conformity, issued by MIRA Ltd, a notified body under the EU’s Construction Products Directive and subsequent Construction Products Regulation (the CPD/CPR), explicitly allows for the CE marking of BBS’ in situ barriers, thus guaranteeing the conformity of the product to the CPD/CPR and European standard EN1317-5 adopted under it.
NEW Confirmation of the European Commission’s Position
On 3rd October 2014 there was a meeting of the Advisory Group for the Standing Committee for Construction. It was made clear by the European Commission to representatives of the 28 Member States that under CPR in situ concrete barriers based on a proprietary design are construction products and are covered by EN1317-5:2007+A2:2012.
NEW Letter from the European Commission – Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General
Director-General – Mr Daniel Cajella
In this letter to the European Road Federation (ERF), and copied to CEN/CENELEC, Mr Calleja states that:
“The issue is highly technical and legally complex and the EC services have recently examined it again in the framework of the High Level Forum on Construction for increasing the competitiveness of the European industry. The outcome is a specific analysis of innovation products within Regulation (EU) 305/2011 (the CPR). These discussions have been further prompted by the introduction of additional innovation related criteria in the context of the Public Procurement Directive.
Indeed, contemporary or innovative construction practices often foresee the manufacturing of construction products either in close vicinity of the construction site or on the site itself (in situ). When examining the concept of a construction product in the framework of the CPR, the foremost attention should thus not be on the location of its manufacturing but on whether it is a construction product or not.
In light of the above reflections we consider useful to complete our answer of 8 April 2013, and to clarify that the EC services consider that in situ concrete road barriers based on a proprietary design which are commercialised as products to be installed on the road are construction products under the CPR and covered by EN1317-5:2007+A2:2012.
In the Annex to the present letter you will find the detailed technical and legal arguments on which our position is based.
Taking into account that the provisions of Regulation (EU) 305/2011 are applicable to the above in situ concrete road barriers and the fact that the relevant coexistence period has ended on 1/1/2011, these in situ concrete barriers must be CE marked on the basis of the standard EN1317-5:2007+A2:2012 and their manufacturers must issue a Declaration of Performance in line with Regulation (EU) 305/2011.“
A copy of the full letter can be downloaded from here:
European Commission Letter (120 KB)
BBS Comment:
We welcome this final ruling as it means there is now free competition across the E.U. for CE marked barrier systems. This will greatly help in the efforts of the E.U. in meeting its ambitious accident reduction targets.
Next Steps:
BBS Ltd has Licensees operating in the UK, Poland and Spain (a full list is available here). Companies in other European countries wishing to work with us to obtain a Licence for CE compliant in situ barriers are welcome to contact us.