The German Institute for Building Technology (DIBt) is considering introduction of special rules for building products that go well beyond the CE mark requirements for compliance with the European Construction Products Regulation and which would effectively “seal off the German construction products market from the EU single market”.
According to the EPLF (Association of European Producers of Laminate Flooring), the approach now being considered may be in breach of a decision taken by the European Court of Justice in October 2014. This concluded that Germany’s national requirements for building products created unnecessary barriers to free trade in the European free market and must be phased out.
At the time of the Court’s decision “the only building products that could be used in Germany were those bearing an Ü mark complying with the DIBt’s own specifications, which were independent from European harmonisation”, according to EPLF.