Construction Products Regulations and Procurement Specifications

The Construction Products Regulation (EU No 305/2011) establishes a common technical language for construction products sold in the EU single market. It requires manufacturers of products covered by harmonised European Standards (hEN) or European Technical Assessments (ETAs) to affix the CE mark and publish a Declaration of Performance (DoP). The CE mark on a construction product indicates that the manufacturer has declared the product's performance against the harmonised standard — it does not constitute quality certification or approval that the product is fit for any particular use.

For procurement specifications, the CPR has important implications. A specification that requires 'CE-marked concrete' is specifying a process (conformity marking) not a performance level. The correct approach is to specify the performance level required (e.g., strength class, exposure class, consistency class) in accordance with the relevant harmonised standard. Products meeting the specification may be CE-marked from any EU manufacturer — requiring CE marking from a specific national certification body, or specifying a named manufacturer's product without equivalence, restricts competition.

A common procurement compliance failure in construction specifications is the specification of brand names, proprietary products or single-source materials without adequate justification and without offering equivalent alternatives. EU Directive 2014/24/EU Article 42 prohibits specifications that refer to a specific make, source, process, trademark or type unless accompanied by the words 'or equivalent'. Even with the 'or equivalent' caveat, the authority must have a genuine reason for including the brand reference — typically that the brand is the only means by which the performance requirements can be described to a sufficient level of precision.

A specification that says 'Gyproc board or equivalent' is compliant provided the performance characteristics that define what 'equivalent' means are clearly stated. A specification that says 'Gyproc board' alone is non-compliant and could give rise to a challenge from a manufacturer of equivalent products who was effectively excluded. Technical advisors drafting specifications for public works should be briefed on this requirement and should use harmonised standard references (BS EN, IS EN) rather than proprietary product names wherever possible.

Where no harmonised European Standard exists for a product, manufacturers may seek an Irish Agrément Certificate from the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) or a European Technical Assessment. Agrément-certified products carry an approval for use in Irish construction conditions based on testing and assessment of the product's fitness for purpose in the Irish climate and building stock.

Specifications may require Agrément certification or equivalent where the nature of the product or its performance in Irish conditions justifies it. However, requiring Agrément certification from the NSAI specifically, as opposed to equivalents from ETA bodies in other member states, restricts competition and is not compliant with EU procurement rules. The specification should reference the technical performance criteria that Agrément certification demonstrates and permit equivalent evidence from any recognised assessment body.

Increasingly, public works specifications include sustainability requirements for construction products — recycled content thresholds, EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) requirements, and whole-life carbon performance standards. These requirements are permissible under EU procurement rules and are actively encouraged by the OGP's green procurement guidance and the Department of the Environment's net-zero construction programme.

When specifying embodied carbon limits for construction materials, authorities should reference a defined life-cycle assessment standard (typically EN 15804 and EN 15978) and specify the carbon performance limits in kg CO2e per functional unit. EPDs should be required from manufacturers using EN 15804 methodology, and authorities should specify that EPDs from any recognised programme operator (EPD Ireland, Environmental Declaration Norway, IBU Germany etc.) are acceptable, to avoid restricting competition to products with only one national EPD scheme's certification.