One of the primary aims of the European Union (EU) is removal of trade barriers between its Member States. Within the construction sector this is addressed by the Construction Products Regulation (CPR). The CPR sets out to facilitate the free movement of construction products within the EU by establishing a single set of performance standards that set a new common technical language for declaring product properties. This then creates a level playing field for all products in the EU.
The performance of a particular construction product is set out in a European technical specification or harmonized product standard more commonly known as European Norms (ENs). The ENs are prepared by the Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN) and identify the relevant ‘essential requirements’ to be tested and the production controls to be operated before conformity may be declared.
CE marking is the visible sign that the product has met the requirements of the EN and is therefore compliant with the CPR. The CE Marking must be displayed on the product or the packaging and refer to a declaration made by the manufacturer that they are producing in line with the relevant European Norm. These declarations are known as ‘Declarations of Performance’ (DoPs for short) and contain the performance characteristics as defined in the EN. The main characteristics for thermal insulation products detailed on the ‘CE label’ and in the DoP are thermal conductivity which is declared to the 90% statistically confident ‘lambda 90/90 value’ and the Euro-classification of Reaction to Fire.
On Kooltherm, Therma, Kingspan GreenGuard, Styrozone, Aquazone and nilvent products under the CE mark you will find a direct link web address pointing you to the DoP and a code for the relevant DoP version number, for example: 1000.CPR.2013.TR26.001
To establish the product conformity you should match the code on the label to the code on the DoP.