Mandate M/366 of the European Commission to CEN, titled: “DEVELOPMENT OF HORIZONTAL
STANDARDISED ASSESSMENT METHODS FOR HARMONISED APPROACHES RELATING TO
DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES UNDER THE CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS DIRECTIVE (CPD), emission to indoor air, soil, surface water and ground water”, which created CEN/TC 351, required a number of technical reports (TRs) to assist in the process of standardisation. The first of these TRs was to establish the extent of or presence of technical barriers to trade resulting from requirements under Essential Requirement 3 (ER3), as perceived or experienced by manufacturers of construction products, demanded by EU Member States.
Since the CPD (Council Directive 89/106/EEC of December 21, 1988 concerning construction products) is
aiming to lift barriers to trade, there would be no point, in theory, in developing standards in CEN/TC 351 for
the purpose of ER3 if no technical barriers to trade exist.
However, the “Grounds” for this Mandate, given by the Commission, state:
‘… this standardisation mandate refers to products for which the two following conditions are fulfilled:
a) the products are or risk to be subject to technical barriers to trade arising from regulated dangerous
substances;
b) the characteristics of the products regarding regulated dangerous substances influence the satisfaction by
the construction works, in which they are to be incorporated in a permanent manner, of the essential
requirements as laid down in article 3 of the CPD and set out in terms of objectives with regard to hygiene,
health and the environment, in Annex 1 of the CPD. These works are subject to legislative, regulatory or
administrative regulations of Member States covering such essential requirements specifically in the field
of dangerous substances'.1
Further, in Clause 7 of the “Execution of the Mandate” referring to the work programme of CEN, it states:
‘It [the work programme] shall identify and cover all products or product families for which the three following
conditions are fulfilled:
European or national regulations are limiting or banning the emission or content (see IV.8) of dangerous
substances;
Existing or potential barriers to trade have been identified;
Measurement/test methods for these specified regulated dangerous substances have already been
developed and are used on a national or EU level.
Considering point (a) in the “Grounds” for the Mandate it is stated that products “at risk” from technical barriers
to trade are equally important to existing barriers to trade, and also in the above Clause 7, Execution of the
Mandate, the second dash refers to “potential barriers” as well as established barriers. This makes the scope
of the work wider than simply identifying existing technical barriers.
The Mandate also specifically refers to ‘technical’ barriers to trade, and CEN is especially asked to consider in the Work Package the following TR:
“Work Package 1: technical reports: procedures for testing and testing schemes
1. Technical Report on examples of existing and potential barriers to trade in relation with emission of
regulated dangerous substances into indoor air, surface water, ground water or soil.