Commission Decision of 9 August 2005 establishing the classes of reaction-to-fire performance for certain construction products (notified under document number C(2005) 2925) (Text with EEA relevance) (2005/610/EC)

Commission Decision

of 9 August 2005

establishing the classes of reaction-to-fire performance for certain construction products

(notified under document number C(2005) 2925)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2005/610/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Directive 89/106/EEC of 21 December 1988, on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to construction products(1), and in particular Article 20(2) a thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Directive 89/106/EEC envisages that in order to take account of different levels of protection for the construction works at national, regional or local levels, it may be necessary to establish in the interpretative documents classes corresponding to the performance of products in respect of each essential requirement. Those documents have been published as the ‘Communication of the Commission with regard to the interpretative documents of Directive 89/106/EEC(2)’.

(2) With respect of the essential requirement of safety in the event of fire, interpretative document No 2 lists a number of interrelated measures which together define the fire safety strategy to be developed in different ways in the Member States.

(3) Interpretative document No 2 identifies one of those measures as the limitation of the generation and spread of fire and smoke within a given area by limiting the potential of construction products to contribute to the full development of a fire.

(4) The level of that limitation may be expressed only in terms of the different levels of reaction-to-fire performance of the products in their end-use application.

(5) By way of harmonised solution, a system of classes was adopted in Commission Decision 2000/147/EC of 8 February 2000 implementing Council Directive 89/106/EEC as regard the classification of the reaction-to-fire performance of construction products(3).

(6) In the case of certain construction products it is necessary to use the classification established in Decision 2000/147/EC.

(7) The reaction-to-fire performance of many construction products and/or materials, within the classification provided for in Decision 2000/147/EC, is well established and sufficiently well known to fire regulators in Member States with the consequence that they do not require testing for this particular performance characteristic.

(8) Products have been considered in relation to their end-use application, where relevant.

(9) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Construction,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

(1)

OJ L 40, 11.2.1989, p. 12. Directive as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1).

(2)

OJ C 62, 28.2.1994, p. 1.

(3)

OJ L 50, 23.2.2000, p. 14. Decision as last amended by Decision 2003/632/EC (OJ L 220, 3.9.2003, p. 5).