Construction Products Certification and Testing
SATRA is a Notified Body under the EU Construction Products Regulation (305/2011), which applies to any construction product that is produced for permanent incorporation in building and civil engineering construction works. SATRA is approved for testing in specific construction product areas, such as floorings, thermal insulation products, adhesives, retroreflecting road studs and aspects of hardware for doors, windows, shutters and curtain walling. SATRA is also approved as a certification body for type examination and factory production control approval for resilient, textile and laminate floorcoverings (EN 14041: 2018) and retroreflecting road studs (EN 1463-1:1998). Product testing with a Notified Body enables companies to apply the CE Mark.
Requirements and procedures
The Construction Products Regulation (CPR) details the preconditions and requirements for compliance, but it also describes procedures that manufacturers must follow in order to demonstrate how this is achieved. The process has five possible routes, known as Assessment and Verification of Constancy of Performance (AVCP), determined by the European Commission as being appropriate for a particular product or product family. These routes are split into two areas of responsibility – those of the manufacturer and those of a Member State approved third party assessment organisation known as a Notified Body. The complexity of the procedure and the involvement of the Notified Body depends on the degree of risk associated with the use of the product and its purpose.
Production control
All AVCP systems require the manufacturer to set up and maintain a factory production control system which may include a provision to undertake some product testing to check that they meet the basic work requirements. The extent to which manufacturers have to involve Notified Bodies is dependent on the product. The Notified Body may be required to undertake initial type testing, audit the factory production control system and certify product conformity depending on the AVCP system for that product.
Notified Bodies and certificates of conformity
When a Notified Body is involved it will produce an EC certificate of conformity, a certificate of factory production control or a Notified Laboratory calculation report in accordance with the relevant harmonised standard, enabling the manufacturer to produce a Declaration of Performance and affix the CE Mark.