Compulsory CE Marking for Beam-and-Block Floor Systems

Important news for brick floor manufacturers: starting from the 1st of December, indeed, the CE marking for clay blocks will be compulsory.

The UNI EN 15037-3 regulation “Precast concrete products - Beam-and-block floor systems -

Part 3: Clay blocks” has just been issued. The regulation, which was issued on  the Official Journal of the European Union (C246/30, 24th August 2011) will bring some important changes in the field of construction - and of precast concrete products in particular - starting from the 1st of December 2012, when the CE marking will become compulsory for all the clay blocks. The application of the rule will be optional until  the 30th of November, but from December all the companies will have to apply it.

In order to give a warranty of conformity to the rule, the companies will need to have a certification. The certification system that has been conceived includes initial type tests (ITT), the implementation of a factory production control (FPC, which requires the intervention of a notified body) and the planning of controls that will be periodically carried out and that will be meant to assure the truthfulness of the characteristics that have been declared. The manufacturers that got the certification in occasion of the CE marking of masonry clay blocks (UNI EN 771-1 rule) will start a procedure that will be very similar to the one they have already experimented.

In occasion of the release of the rule, ICMQ (the leader certification body in the field of construction) and ANDIL (Italian Association of Clay Manufacturers) have realized a guide about the certification of the factory production control regarding the interposed elements of brick for beam-and-block floor systems. Lorenzo Orsenigo, director of ICMQ, has described the guide as a necessary tool for all the manufactures working in this sector, who will have the chance to use this guide to have clear information about the correct application of rules. Luigi Di Carlantonio, president of ANDIL, has spoken positively about the issue of the rule, describing the application of the regulation of beam-and-block floor systems at European level as an important goal from the point of view of reliability and structural performance.

Here are the peculiarities of the guide: this is a vade mecum which has been especially conceived to show the requirements that must be respected during the product and procedure tests. The guide also gives some useful information about the frequency of tests and the peculiarities required by the CE marking, and explores the possible problems that might rise if you choose to outsource activities that have an influence on the product quality. Last but not least, the guide also deals with some regulations that manufactures might find useful until they get the CE marking. In particular, the guide refers to the prescriptions deriving from the circular 617/09 regarding the technical standards for construction (DM 14/01/2008), which can help manufactures in the identification of the parameters to declare to get the certification.