Mandatory designation of construction products
How should the mandatory data for designation be provided together with the declaration of performance?
Article 6(5) of the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) requires that the information referred to in Article 31 or, as the case may be, in Article 33 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 [REACH], shall be provided together with the declaration of performance. For providing this information either a safety data sheet or information in the harmonized format presented below should be made available.
For construction products which are substances or mixtures that meet the criteria for classification as hazardous it is obligatory under the REACH regulation to deliver a safety data sheet (SDS) according to REACH, Art. 31. For these construction products a harmonized format exists already in form of the SDS and no further guidance concerning the format of information is considered necessary. If an SDS according to Annex II of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH) is required, it shall be provided together with the declaration of performance.
For construction products which are articles the communication duties of REACH, Art. 33 apply. This means that the recipient of the article shall be provided with the sufficient information to allow safe use of the article including, as a minimum, the name of the substances of very high concern (SVHC). For this communication duty no harmonized format exists under REACH.
Recommendation for harmonized format of communication
Such a harmonized communication format is suggested here for construction products which are either (1) articles or (2) mixtures containing substances of very high concern (SVHC) in cases where an SDS is not obligatory (REACH, Art. 31(3b/4). The aim is to provide the construction sector with a common format to deliver this information with the declaration of performance as long no precise guidance is available from the European Commission. For substances (SVHC) listed under the ECHA Candidate List and contained in a concentration above 0.1 % weight by weight (w/w) in a construction product sufficient information, available to the supplier, to allow safe use of the article or the mixture including, as a minimum, the name of that substance shall be provided. The data provided together with the declaration of performance should be supplied in the language or the languages required by the Member State where the product is made available.
The German Environment Agency (UBA) recommends the attached data entry template as a harmonized communication format for construction products which are either (1) articles or (2) mixtures containing substances of very high concern (SVHC) in cases where an SDS is not always obligatory (REACH, Art. 31(3b/4): Obligatory minimum (marked bold) and facultative additional data to be provided together with the declaration of performance according to Article 6(5) of Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 to allow safe use. The FEA has modified the model template following the recommendations presented in “Enhancement of the REACH requirements for (imported) articles ─ Options for improvement of the chemicals regulation“, UBA-Texte 41/2015.