European Regulation 305/2011/EU concerns the release and free movement of construction products on the European market. It covers all products designed to become a permanent part of construction work, whether in the form of buildings or civil engineering works, and establishes that such products must meet the requirements appropriate to a work of construction, namely mechanical strength and stability; fire safety; hygiene, safety in use and environment; protection against noise; energy saving; and sustainable use of natural resources. Its aim is to provide the market with reliable information on the performance of construction products. This is achieved by providing a "common technical language", which offers uniform methods of assessing the performance of products.
To this end, the Regulation states that no product may be placed on the market unless its manufacturer has drawn up a Declaration of Performance (DoP) for it, it is CE marked and the constancy of its performance has been assessed and verified. The Declaration of Performance (DoP) is mandatory for all products covered by a harmonised standard, and the manufacturer assumes responsibility for declared performance concerning intended use, essential characteristics relating to intended use and the performance of at least one of the essential characteristics. The manufacturer is also under obligation to produce a guarantee of traceability of the products in the event that they are withdrawn from the market if deemed not to meet the specifications set down in the CE marking.
IMQ is authorised to operate for the following types of product, in accordance with the respective harmonised standards:
The CPR covers all products manufactured for the purpose of permanent installation in buildings and other civil engineering works (e.g. houses, industrial and commercial buildings, offices, hospitals, schools, underground railways, etc.). For cables, the European Commission has decided to consider fire-reaction and fire-resistance within the framework of characteristics deemed relevant to the safety of buildings.
All cables permanently installed in buildings, whether power cables or data cables, of any voltage and with any type of metal or fibre optic conductor, must be classified according to the class of their installation environment. Cables are classified into 7 fire-reaction classes, Aca, B1ca, B2ca, Cca, Dca, Eca and Fca, identified by the subscript “ca” (cable) in descending order of performance. As well as this main classification, the European authorities have also regulated the use of the following additional parameters:
a = acidity, which defines the hazardous nature of the fumes for people and their
corrosiveness for materials. Ranges from A1 to A3
s = smoke opacity. Ranges from s1 to s3
d = dripping of incandescent particles that can propagate fire. Ranges from d0 to d2.
At the time of classification of fire behaviour, fire-resistant cables were not included because the standards for this range of products are still being drawn up.
The notification concerns both Test Laboratory activity and Certification Body activity, in accordance with EN 50575:2014 + A1:2016 "Power, control and communication cables - Cables for general applications in construction works subject to reaction to fire requirements".
As well as supporting companies with AVCP testing (Assessment and Verification of Constancy of Performance) and Certificate of Constancy of Performance testing, IMQ also offers a technical/regulatory support service.
For certain categories of products covered by the Construction Products Regulation, IMQ also offers voluntary product certification. For example, IMQ CIG Quality for metal flues and chimneys.