About the European Construction Products Regulation (CPR)

From July 2017, the Construction Products Directive (89/106/EEC) will be replaced by Regulation (EU) No. 305/2011. This establishes a common technical language that supports a laying down of harmonised conditions for putting construction products into circulation, along with clear regulations for the CE mark.

Cables and wires that are permanently incorporated in a building fall under the CPR. The following have been applicable for this product group since 1/7/2017:

Test standard             EN 50399

Product standard        EN 50575

Classification              EN 13501-6

1. Requirements for the products in question

• Testing and classification as per above standards

• Application of a CE mark

• Issuing of a "Declaration of Performance" (DOP)

The transition period for implementing EN 50575 runs until 1/7/2017. This means that all products which have been produced and brought into circulation (i.e. left the factory) up to this date, but not been classified and marked yet, will continue to comply with the law and the standards. The onward sale to retailers and end customers also continues to be permitted.

Fire classes as per EN 13501-6

Aca
B1ca
B2ca
Cca
Dca
Eca
Fca
2. Documentation requirements2.1. CE marking

The products in question must be labelled with a CE mark as per Figure 1 from 1/7/2017 at the latest.

2.2. Declaration of Power

Producers and so-called "distributors" need to create a Declaration of Power for products coming under the CPR, and make this available to the customer. What suggests itself for producers is a download function on the internet, while importers and retailers need to provide these documents in an order-related fashion.

 2.3. Cuttings from original reels

One of the biggest problems for retailers and resellers is the tracing, labelling and documentation of lengths cut from original reels. Faber Kabel is therefore providing an IT-basis for filing the required information in a supplier product matrix and making it available to the ERP system in an order-related manner. This way the required labelling and Declarations of Power can also be provided for cut lengths.

2.4. Cable printing

The CPR does not explicitly require this, but what is emerging is that the fire class labelling on the cable itself is being accepted as a common option for also enabling its conformance with relevant building regulations to be verified after its installation.

3. Building regulations

At this moment in time (November 2016), the building authorities have not yet issued any binding prescriptions or standards for the application of the individual fire classes to cables and wires. The trade association for "Cables and Insulated Wires" at the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association ZVEI has elaborated a suggestion for this in a white paper in April 2015, which is now being reviewed by the relevant standardization bodies.

4. News

20/11/16: The first producer delivers goods to Faber Kabel that have been tested, certified and labeled in keeping with the CPR (Fig. 2).

30/1/2017: Other manufacturers supply labeled products (NYM). Faber Kabel is applying for the first own certificates for products labeled with FACAB®.

21/3/2017: DIN VDE V 0250-10 appears as a so-called pre-standard. This document specifies the scope of the CPR for national cable types according to VDE 0250. The "White Paper" of the ZVEI is attached as an informative annex. Please refer to the revision of VDE 0100-420, VDE 0100-520 and DIN EN 50174.

3/5/2017: Faber Kabel starts with the CPR compliant marking (labeling) of goods, in case that manufacturers provides us with the necessary information. In addition the DoP ID is printed on the delivery notes and a DoP finder is offered on our website.

27/7/2017: The transition period for manufacturers has expired for four weeks. Unfortunately, not all relevant products are available CPR-compliant, the processing times in the test institutes are still very long. Nevertheless, we can say that for the standard cables, approximately 70% of the inventory complies with the new regulations.

Since June, we have conducted several public and customer-related webinars on the subject of CPR. If you are interested, please contact our technical customer support department.

Please download the information here.