Dated 22.11.2018, the Commission published the Communication COM(2018) 764  ‘Harmonized standards: Enhancing transparency and legal certainty for a fully functioning Single Market’.

This communication explains the actions taken recently by the Commission to further improve the European standardisation system. It also includes specific actions that the Commission will take in the immediate future in order to enhance the efficiency, transparency and legal certainty for the stakeholders involved in the development of harmonized standards. Therefore, it is referred to those European standards adopted on the basis of a Commission’s request for the application of Union harmonization legislation.

Since Regulation 1025/2012 entered into force in 2013, it has provided the main judicial framework in this field, and it comprises the division of responsibilities and obligations of the stakeholders involved.

In view of the needs detected and in accordance with the case law of the EU Court of Justice, it is considered that the practical application of this framework requires concrete improvements, as soon as possible.

In the Communication COM(2018) 764, four actions are highlighted:

1. The Commission will use its best endeavours to eliminate the remaining backlog of the harmonized standards not mentioned in the OJEU due to a negative evaluation by the Commission, as rapidly as possible.
2. The Commission is reviewing its internal decision-making processes with a view to streamlining the procedures for publishing the references to harmonized standards in the OJEU.
3. The Commission will elaborate over the next months in consultation with stakeholders, a guidance document on practical aspects of implementing the Standardisation Regulation, paying particular attention to the division of roles and responsibilities in the development process of harmonized standards as well as to efficiency and speed.
4. The Commission will reinforce, on an on-going basis, the system of consultants to support swift and robust assessments of harmonized standards and timely citation in the OJEU.

The Communication COM(2018) 764 foresees the immediate start-up of the four actions mentioned above.

The Commission is responsible for the assessment of the European harmonized standards. It also needs to ensure that these standards are compatible with the requirements of the relevant harmonized Union legislation. The case law of the EU Court of Justice has confirmed the importance of this responsibility and highlighted its legal implications. Although the current system is functional, the Commission recognises that further improvement is necessary.

The Commission’s Communication refers to all sectors that are subject to European harmonization, not only to the construction sector. In this latter, needs for improvement related to the proposed actions have also been detected.

At present, there are fifteen published EAD based on ETA Guidelines, of which the modification of one has already been published. From now on, we are going to identify them with their reference number.

List of the published EADs:

• EAD 090062-00-0404, for kits for external wall claddings mechanically fixed (conversion from ETA Guideline 034 parts 1 and 2): published in the OJEU, on 16.11.2018. See information in section “ITeC and the European Technical Assessment”.
• EADs 160004-00-0301 y 160027-00-0301, for kits of post-tensioning systems for prestressing of structures (conversion from ETA Guideline 013): EADs published in the OJEU, on 15.12.2017.
• EAD 330076-00-0604, on metal injection anchors for use in masonry (conversion from ETA Guideline 029): published in the OJEU, on 15.12.2017.
• EAD 330196-01-0604, on plastic anchors made of virgin or non-virgin material for fixing of external thermal insulation systems with rendering (conversion from ETA Guideline 014): modification published in the OJEU, on 10.11.2017.
• EAD 330232-00-0601, on mechanical fasteners for use in concrete (conversion from ETA Guideline 001 parts 1 to 4): published in the OJEU, on 9.12.2016.
• EAD 330499-00-0601, on bonded fasteners for use in concrete (conversion from ETA Guideline 001 part 5): published in the OJEU, on 15.12.2017.
• EAD 330747-00-0601, on fasteners for use in concrete for redundant non-structural systems (conversion from ETA Guideline 001 part 6):  published in the OJEU, on 10.08.2018.
• EAD 340006-00-0506, on prefabricated stairs kits (conversion from ETA Guideline 008): published in the OJEU, on 13.5.2016.
• EAD 340059-00-0106, on falling rock protection kits (conversion from ETA Guideline 027): published in the OJEU, on 16.11.2018
• EAD 350140-00-1106, on renderings and renderings kits intended for fire resistant applications (conversion from ETA Guideline 018 part 3): published in the OJEU, on 15.12.2017.
• EAD 350141-00-1106, on linear joint and gap seals (conversion from ETA Guideline 026 part 3): published in the OJEU, on 15.12.2017.
• EAD 350142-00-1106, on fire protective board, slab and mat products and kits (conversion from ETA Guideline 018 part 4): published in the OJEU, on 15.12.2017.
• EAD 350402-00-1106, on reactive coatings for fire protection of steel elements (conversion from ETA Guideline 018 part 2): published in the OJEU, on 15.12.2017.
• EAD 350454-00-1104, on fire stopping and fire sealing products – penetration seals (conversion from ETA Guideline 026 part 2): published in the OJEU, on 15.12.2017.

All the published EAD can be consulted on the EOTA website under the heading ‘Our Publications’.

The current status of the seventeen conversions presently in progress was considered at the meeting of Technical Board No. 23.

As was indicated in Report 18, four different basic phases can be distinguished in the conversion process from the ETA Guidelines to EAD:

1ª Elaboration and adoption by the working group;
2ª Adoption by EOTA – by the designated bodies;
3ª Comments of the Commission – including their consideration;
4ª Publication – this may also include the comments of the Commission, in the final review of the EADs;

At the moment, the majority of conversions are at the third or fourth phase.

Detailed situation of the conversions:

• EAD on structural sealant glazing systems (conversion from ETA Guideline 002 parts 1 and 3): sent to the Commission for the publication phase; pending Commission’s final review.
• EAD on internal partition kits (conversion from ETA Guideline 003): sent to the Commission for the publication phase; pending Commission’s final review.
• EAD on external thermal insulation systems (conversion from ETA Guideline 004): the comments received in the Commission’s comments phase were addressed in the working group meeting on 30 and 31 of January; the new criteria established by the Commission regarding the date of the references and the testing methods in Technical Reports (TR) which the EAD refers to, are being incorporated into the EAD.
• EAD on liquid applied roof waterproofing kits (conversion from ETA Guideline 005): Commission’s comments were received in the EAD final review (publication phase); these comments have already been considered; by the end of February the revised EAD will be sent to the Commission.
• EAD on systems of mechanically fastened flexible roof waterproofing membranes (conversion of Guide 006): Commission’s comments were received in the EAD final review (publication phase); these comments have already been considered; by the end of February the revised EAD will be sent to the Commission.
• EAD on timber frame prefabricated building kits (conversion from ETA Guideline 007): sent to the Commission for the publication phase; pending Commission’s final review.
• EAD on non-load-bearing permanent shuttering systems based on hollow blocks or panels of insulating materials and concrete (conversion from ETA Guideline 009): Commission’s comments were received in the EAD final review (publication phase), which are being considered; in the Technical Board meeting an issue was raised, which had been consulted with the Commission.
• EAD on self-supporting translucent roof kits other than glass (conversion from ETA Guideline 010): once the Commission’s consultant’s comments have been dealt with, the EAD is sent for the publication phase.
• EAD on wood-based composite beams and pillars (conversion from ETA Guideline 011): sent to the Commission for the publication phase; pending Commission’s final review.
• EAD on three-dimensional nailing plates (conversion from ETA Guideline 015): sent to the Commission for the publication phase; pending Commission’s final review.
• EAD on prefabricated units for external wall insulation (conversion from ETA Guideline 017): See information in section ‘ITeC and the European Technical Assessment’.
• EAD on prefabricated wood-based panels bearing tensioned faces (conversion from ETA Guideline 019): sent to the Commission for the publication phase; pending Commission’s final review.
• EAD on plastic anchors (conversion from ETA Guideline 020): sent to the Commission for the publication phase; pending Commission’s final review.
• EAD on watertight covering kits for wet room floors and or walls (conversion from ETA Guideline 022 parts 1-3): the three EAD corresponding to the three parts of the ETA Guidelines were adopted by EOTA and sent for the Commission’s comments phase.
• EAD on fire retardant products (conversion from ETA Guideline 028): See information in section ‘ITeC and the European Technical Assessment’.
• EAD on connectors for structural joints (conversion from ETA Guideline 030): EOTA adoption pending CSTB last moment comments.
• EAD on expansion joints for road bridges (conversion from ETA Guideline 032 parts 1-8): Commission’s comments were received (Commission’s comments phase), some of which called for relevant adjustments in the documents; part 5 EAD has just been circulated for adoption by EOTA; it is foreseen that EADs of all different parts in conversion process reach the EOTA adoption phase by the end of March.

In the last EOTA Executive Commission meeting, Mr. Iñigo Urresti from the European Commission, announced that on 18 of January the process for the first publication of EAD references in the OJEU had just begun, applying the new procedure.  He also pointed out that this EAD publication will include those EADs from the suspended December publication and some other additional EADs.

According to Mr. Urresti, this EAD publication will help DG Grow to check the new procedure, which is based on 4-5 steps and finishes with the publication of an implementing act in the OJEU, which at the same time will include the EAD list of references. He is not yet in conditions to give a publication date.

Moreover, he emphasised the fact that the implementing act is a higher legal rank instrument than the communications used by the Commission until last year.

As indicated in the previous Report, this new procedure will be applied not only for harmonized standards but also for EADs.

This is related to the application of the measures and actions indicated in the Commission’s Communication COM(2018) 764 ‘Harmonized standards: Enhancing transparency and legal certainty for a fully functioning Single Market’ (see news ‘Introduction of improvements in the harmonized standards’ in section ‘European Commission’).

It seems that this procedure change was adopted for the harmonized standards and the Commission hierarchy extended this to the EADs.

• Conversion from the ETA Guideline for fire retardant products (ETAG 28):

The EAD is now on publication phase and Commission’s comments have just been received.

• Conversion from the ETA Guideline on prefabricated units for external wall insulation (ETAG 017) – work led by CSTB-ITeC:

Commission’s consultant’s comments were considered (Commission’s comments phase); the revised EAD and the answers to the comments have been circulated to the designated bodies for confirmation. Commission’s comments have just been received.

• Conversion of the ETA Guideline for façade cladding kits (ETAG 34):

EAD 090062-00-0404 ‘Kits for external wall claddings mechanically fixed’: reference published in the OJEU, dated on 16.11.2018, by means of the Communication 2018/C 417/07. The full EAD text can be consulted in the section ‘Our Publications’ of the EOTA website.

In addition to EAD 090062-00-0404, ITeC has nine EAD published in the OJEU and is currently working on a further fifteen:

• Three have been sent for the publication phase following the issue of the first ETA.
• Three have already been internally adopted by EOTA and the corresponding ETAs are now in preparation.
• The remaining nine are at different stages of elaboration
  

One of the three EAD in the publication phase was on the last publication list – December 2018 – which was suspended by the Commission due to the establishing of the new publication procedure (see the news in section ‘European Assessment Document-EAD’).

Note: at this point, the conversion works from the ETA Guidelines to EAD indicated in the first item of this section, are not considered.

At present, ITeC has forty-three ETA in process.

It is structured in three parts: EAD XXYYYY-00-ZZZZ

• The first part is a combination of the product area code, according to Annex IV of the Regulation, and the project number defined by EOTA.
• The second part indicates the EAD version. 00 is the initial version, 01 is the first modification, and so on.
• The third part shows the area of the product according to the EOTA classification.

Example of a published EAD:

EAD 040005-00-1201 Factory-made thermal and/or acoustic insulation products made of vegetable or animal fibres.

In Annex IV of the Regulation, EAD product areas are defined with their code and description. There are 35 already defined and one more, the 36, for products not covered by the previous ones.

All the published EAD can be consulted on the EOTA website under the heading ‘Our Publications’.

• Technical Board No. 23, Brussels, 20 and 21 February 2019

• General Assembly of the EOTA, Brussels, 24 April 2019
• Technical Board No. 24, Brussels, 4 and 5 June 2019
• Technical Board No. 25, location to be decided, 18 and 19 September 2019
• Technical Board No. 26, Brussels, 11 and 12 December 2019