S.I. No. 210/1994 - European Communities (Construction Products) (Amendment) Regulations, 1994.

S.I. No. 210 of 1994.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1994.

The Minister for the Environment, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) and for the purpose of giving effect to Council Directive 93/68/EEC of 2nd July, 1993^(*) amending Council Directive 89/106/EEC of 21st December, 1988^(**) on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to construction products, hereby makes the following Regulations:

^(*)O.J. No. L220, 30.8.93, p5.

^(**)O.J. No. L40, 11.2.89, p12.

1 Citation and Commencement.

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Construction Products) (Amendment) Regulations, 1994.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1995.

(3) Nothing in these Regulations shall prevent a product which complies with marking arrangements in force under the Principal Regulations prior to the 1st day of January, 1995, being placed on the market until the 1st day of January, 1997.

2 Interpretation.

2. (1) In these Regulations—

"the Principal Regulations" means the European Communities (Construction Products) Regulations, 1992 ( S.I. No. 198 of 1992 );

(2) The following definition is hereby substituted for the definition of "the Directive" in the Principal Regulations—

'"the Directive" means Council Directive 89/106/EEC of 21st December, 1988 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to construction products and published in the Official Journal (No. L40 Volume 32) of the European Communities of 11th February, 1989, as amended by Council Directive 93/68/EEC of 22nd July, 1993 and published in the Official Journal (No. L220 Volume 36) of 30th August, 1993.'.

3 CE Marking.

3. In the Principal Regulations there shall be substituted "CE marking" for "EC mark" wherever the latter occurs.

4 Products bearing CE Marking.

4. The Principal Regulations are hereby amended by the substitution of the following article for article 4:

"4. (1) The CE marking may be affixed to a product which is not a minor product if—

(a) (i) the product has been manufactured in conformity with the European technical specification applicable to it, and

(ii) the relevant attestation procedure specified by the Commission for that product and indicated in the European technical specification or in the publication thereof has been followed, and

(iii) an EC certificate of conformity or an EC declaration of conformity, as may be appropriate, has been issued or made in respect of the product; or,

(b) in as much as a European technical specification has not been established for the product, the product has been manufactured in conformity with a recognised national technical specification applicable to it; or,

(c) the product (being a product to which the attestation procedures described in the second and third possibilities set out in paragraph 4 of Annex II to the Schedule are applicable) has not been manufactured, or has been manufactured only partly, in conformity with the European technical specification or the recognised national technical specification applicable to it, but the manufacturer or his agent or his authorised representative established in the Community has made an EC declaration of conformity on the basis of initial type-testing of the product by an approved body and the exercise of factory production control; or,

(d) in the absence of a European technical specification or a recognised national technical specification applicable to it, the product complies with the provisions of any other Community Directive applicable to it which provides for the affixing of the CE marking in accordance with arrangements chosen by the manufacturer.

(2) (a) A product which bears the CE marking shall, subject to the provisions of article 4 (2) (b), be presumed, until the contrary is proved, to comply with—

(i) the requirements of article 3 for placing the product on the market, and

(ii) the provisions of any other Community Directive applicable to the product with regard to other aspects.

(b) Where a product bears the CE marking in accordance with Article 4 (1) (d), the CE marking shall indicate conformity only to the Directive or Directives applied by the manufacturer and particulars of the Directive or Directives applied, as published in the Official Journal of the European communities, shall be given in the documents, notices or instructions required by the Directive or Directives and accompany such products.

(3) the manufacturer, his agent or his authorised representative established in the Community shall be responsible for affixing the CE marking and for ensuring that the relevant attestation procedure provided for in paragrpah (1) has been followed.

(4) For the purposes of paragraph (1), the CE marking may be affixed to the product itself, to a label attached to it, to its packaging or to any accompanying commercial documents relating to the product.

(5) The CE marking shall—

(a) consist of the initials "CE" in the form of the specimen set out in paragraph 6 of the Annex II to the Schedule,

(b) comply with the requirements set out in paragraph 6 of Annex II to the schedule be followed by the identification number of the body involved in the production control stage and shall be accompanied by the name or identifying mark of the manufacturer of the product and, where appropriate—

(i) indications to identify the characteristics of the products by reference to the relevant European technical specifications or recognised national technical specifications;

(ii) the last two digets of the year in which the CE marking was affixed;

(iii) the identification symbol of the approved body involved; and

(iv) the number of the EC certificate of conformity.

(6) The CE marking shall not be affixed to a minor product.".

5 False or misleading marks.

5. Article 6 of the Principal Regulations is hereby amended by the substitution for sub-article (1) thereof of the following subarticle:

"6. (1) A person shall not—

(a) affix the CE marking to a product otherwise than in accordance with article 4 (1), or

(b) affix to a product or its packaging any mark which is likely to deceive third parties as to the meaning and form of the CE marking, or

(c) reduce the visability and legibility of the CE marking.".

6 Schedule.

6. Annex II to the Schedule to the Principal Regulations is hereby amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph 6:

"6. The CE marking shall take the following form:

—if the CE marking is reduced or enlarged the proportions given in the above graduated drawing must be respected,

—the various components of the CE marking must have substantially the same vertical dimension, which shall not be less than 5mm.".

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for the Environment, this 14th day of July, 1994.

MICHAEL SMITH,

Minister for the Environment.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations implement Council Directive 93/68/EEC of 22nd July, 1993 which amended a number of Directives, including the Construction Products Directive (89/106/EEC). The Regulations contain a number of amendments to the European Communities (Construction Products) Regulations, 1992 ( S.I. No. 198 of 1992 ). The amendments primarily require the use of the term 'CE marking' in place of the term 'EC mark'. The Regulations also contain provisions concerning the appearance of the CE marking and the information to accompany the CE marking.