CE Marking

From 1 July 2013 under the Construction Products Regulation (CPR), it has been a criminal offence to place a construction product on the market anywhere in the EEA without a CE mark (provided that the product in question is covered by a harmonised standard.)

There are three situations:

• For products already covered by a harmonised standard, CE marking became compulsory from 1 July 2013.
• For products where the harmonised standard was published after the above date, CE marking became (or will become) compulsory when the standard reaches the end of its “period of coexistence”. This date is generally about 21 months after the standard itself has been published but this can vary considerably.
• Products for which no harmonised standard exists will not be subject to CE marking unless the EU Commission produces a new “mandate” covering such products and CEN or CENELEC publish a new harmonised standard.

Because the CPR is directly applicable in member states, there is no need for national governments to pass any laws to bring this about. Consequently, there should be no differences in interpretation between countries. As a result, unlike the situation under the old 1989 Construction Products Directive, UK no longer regards CE marking of construction products as voluntary.

This means that dhf members who place construction products on the UK market are applying the CE mark where those products are covered by a harmonised standard.

Note:  A “Manufacturer” includes someone marketing a product under his own brand or trademark which has been manufactured by someone else or an installer if they have put together a complete product by means of various components.

For further information about the Construction Products Regulation and CE marking please see

The Construction Products Regulation (EU)No.305/2011, A guide for dhf members which can be found in the members publications area of this site.