Harmonised standards
What a harmonised standard is
Section titled “What a harmonised standard is”A European standard developed under the EU construction products regulation, setting out how the performance of a given kind of product has to be determined and declared.
Where such a standard exists for a product, the manufacturer issues the declaration of performance on its basis and applies the CE marking on that basis. That is the base case.
What a harmonised standard gives
Section titled “What a harmonised standard gives”A common language
Section titled “A common language”Everyone measures the same characteristics the same way. That is what makes two manufacturers’ products comparable.
A test method
Section titled “A test method”It is not enough to say “insulating performance”: the test and the conditions under which it was measured have to be fixed too.
The system of assessment and verification
Section titled “The system of assessment and verification”How rigorous the external verification has to be for the manufacturer to demonstrate constancy of performance — this differs by product type, in proportion to the risk.
When there is no harmonised standard
Section titled “When there is no harmonised standard”Two cases:
- No such standard exists for the kind of product. Typical for novel or complex solutions.
- One exists, but the product deviates significantly from what it describes.
The route to verifying performance is then technical assessment: ETA at European level, or NMÉ for placing on the Hungarian market.
Why light gauge steel systems fall here
Section titled “Why light gauge steel systems fall here”Standards exist separately for the profile, the board and the insulation. For the performance of a wall or floor system assembled from them, though, there typically is no harmonised standard — because it is not one kind of product but many possible arrangements.
That is the structural reason why the question of the NMÉ and the ETA comes up with these systems.
A standard is not legislation
Section titled “A standard is not legislation”An important distinction: a standard on its own is a technical document. It becomes mandatory when legislation refers to it — which is exactly the situation with harmonised standards for construction products. The text of the MSZ EN standards is paid for, available through the national standardisation body.
The point
Section titled “The point”Whether a harmonised standard exists determines the route to paperwork for a product. It says nothing about the quality of the product, only whether its kind could be standardised.