How to ensure you are compliant with the EUs construction products regulation

To access the European market, wire and cable manufacturers need to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the EU Construction Products Regulation (CPR). This regulation applies to any cables in any type of building so it has a very broad reach and it is vital if the EU market is your goal. Cable compliance with the CPR is a key part of ensuring the kind of compliance with EU law that will facilitate ongoing ties with the region.

What is the Construction Products Regulation (CPR)?

It’s a regulation that has applied to any cable that is being used in construction since July 2017. The CPR has been a key step towards achieving higher fire performance requirements for power, control and communication cables and is designed to provide a single, central common language for all those working in construction and using cables. The purpose of the CPR is to make it easier to assess and clarify the different levels of fire performance of cables. This is achieved through the focus on transparency that its provisions deliver. It is also a crucial tool in creating a safer market across the EU.

A common language for safety requirements for cables

If you want to ensure that you are compliant with the EU’s CPR then it’s essential to become familiar with the key provisions of the regulation. These are:

• Mandatory use of the CE-marking of cables.
• Declaration of performance for cables as a prerequisite for entry into the EU market and also for circulation throughout the EU.
• CPR classes of performance being adopted into national installation laws, fire safety regulations, wiring regulations etc.
• For every product entering into the EU market, one single standard of assessment and classification of performance (whether the cables have been produced inside the EU or not).
• Notified Bodies and Notified Testing Laboratories to carry out regular testing to certify consistent performance of products.
• National authorities to carry out market surveillance. This is designed to make sure that products that don’t comply with the CPR aren’t in circulation. It will also help to ensure that the wrong cables are not being used in the wrong applications.

What happens if you don’t comply?

The CPR also allows for legal mechanisms to withdraw products from the market if they don’t comply with the CPR, as well as to prosecute those businesses and individuals involved in dangerous practices. That includes the creation of a product blacklist within the EU.

Any wires and cables in circulation in the EU market need to be compliant with the CPR. As these provisions show, there is very little tolerance for those in breach of this regulation and also the potential to be blocked from trading in the EU market where compliance isn’t being properly achieved.