eco-INSTITUT on the recent comment from the German Institute for Structural Engineering (Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik – DIBt) on the European Court of Justice’s judgment from Oct 16, 2014 and its related impacts on national technical approvals 

The European Court of Justice (CJEU) considered that the Federal Republic of Germany infringed the Construction Products Directive (Directive 89/106/EWG) through its Construction Products Lists which imposed additional requirements for the effective market access and the use of construction products in Germany even though the construction products in question were covered by harmonised standards and bore a CE marking.

Here you find the DIBt’s Comment from April 13th, 2015.

As a first step the provisions set out in  the Construction Product Lists (Bauregelliste) B Part 1 which have been explicitly mentioned in the CJEU judgment have been suspended. For all remaining products within the scope of harmonised specifications in accordance with the Construction Products Regulation the Construction Products Lists (Bauregellisten) and  Lists of the Technical Building Rules (Liste der Technischen Baubestimmungen) as last amended will continue to apply for the time being. These, for example, are the requirements for floor coverings after EN 14041 and 14342 or wall coverings after EN 15102. The position currently taken by the committees of the Conference of Construction Ministers (Bauministerkonferenz) is that applications for national technical approvals (bauaufsichtliche Zulassungen) in these area are accepted till 31st Jan 2016. Further it is planned to completely repeal the Construction Products List (Bauregelliste) B Part 1 and other additional requirements for harmonised construction products contained in other sets of rules by 15 Oct 2016.

Up to this point of time national technical approvals and connected requirements on Ü marking (like external inspections) are obligatory. The plans provide for statutory transistion rules for approvals valid after 15 Oct 2016. The transition rule’s aim is, as far as can now be predicted, to ensure that until the end of the approvals’ validity can be used as proof that the regulatory requirements in the field of construction are fulfilled.

Requirements (like those on health protection) still considered to be necessary in Germany will be defined in terms of construction work levels (construction works requirements) by that date the latest. No details, however, are known yet.

For further infos about the topic of national technical approvals for reasons of health protection please call your personal contact at eco-INSTITUT or Mr Daniel Tigges at +49 221 931245 -30.