Construction Products Regulation

Scope of the CPR

The Construction Product Regulation (CPR) is intended to ensure the free circulation of construction product in the EU removing trade barriers eventually created by technical specification. This is achieved by providing a “common technical language", offering uniform assessment methods for the performance of construction products throughout the European Economic Area.

These assessment methods are compiled in harmonised technical specifications. This common technical language is to be applied by all stakeholders in the construction industry (regulatory authorities, manufacturers, distributors, end users ...)

• The regulatory authorities of Member States when specifying requirements for construction works and by
• the manufacturers when declaring the performance of their products, and by
• the distributors when making the products available to their customers and by
• their users (architects, engineers, constructors, etc.) when choosing the products that are best suited for their intended use in construction works.

Cables concerned by the regulation are those intended to be used for the supply of electricity and communications permanently installed in buildings and other civil engineering works.

Note that at this point the harmonised standard for fire resistant cables is still under development. This means that they are not yet subject to the CPR requirements and that their entire fire behaviour (fire reaction and fire resistance) is still to be assessed against the current national standards.

Construction products regulation classification

The Euroclass Table defines seven classes (Aca, B1ca, B2ca, Cca, Dca, Eca and Fca) based on their fire reaction, such as heat release and flame spread/propagation.

In this classification, heat release and flame spread/propagation are the main classification criteria, but a series of additional criteria is also defined. Those additional criteria apply only to classes B1ca, B2ca, Cca and Dca and they regard:

The smoke classes s1a and s1b reflect requirements that have been in use for a long time in Europe. The acidity classes do also have a background in long traditions.

Are you aware of your responsibilities?

AUTHORITIES

• Regulate the fire performance of cables using the CPR Classification
• Survey the market for correct application of the Regulation

SPECIFIERS

• Must prescribe the level of fire performance required using the CPR classification
• Evaluate eventual specific risks, which means understanding the level of fire performances of the cable

WHOLESALERS

• Ensure that they place on the market only cables which follow the requirements of the CPR
• Be sure that the product bears the CE marking and is accompanied by the documents required by CPR

INSTALLERS

• Follow national installation standards
• Only install CPR certified cables of the appropriate performance

Nexans CPR tutorial

Educate yourself on the CPR with Nexans' tutorial