Structurae

Assessment of the environmental compatibility of construction products from a European view — a status report to CEN/TC 351.
CEN/TC 351 “Construction products: Assessment of release of dangerous substances” worked out three drafts for harmonized test methods over the past years, which are necessary for the implementation of the Essential Requirement No 3 ”Hygiene, Health and the Environment” of the Construction Products Directive. Two of this test methods are intended for the determination of the leaching of inorganic and organic substances from monolithic or, respectively, granular construction products with regard to soil and water. The third method deals with testing of the release of volatile organic compounds into indoor air. Before the test methods worked out by CEN/TC 351 can achieve the status of European standards (EN), robustness testing and as second validation step round robin tests are necessary. If the robustness tests are successful and the adjustments in CEN proceed positively the three technical specifications could be available as published CEN/TS in the year 2013. As soon as the new horizontal test methods are published they are probable useable in harmonised construction product standards (hEN). The publication of the test standards as EN is possible at the end of 2015 at the earliest.