CPR - Construction Products Regulation

New regulation regarding CE marking of construction products being subject to Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) no. 305/2011 dated the 9th of March, 2011 came into force on the 1st of July, 2017. Cable Factory BITNER goes to great lengths to ensure that cables included in our product portfolio that are subject to new regulation meet all the requirements and stay in accordance with CPR directive.

New Regulation (CPR) outlines updated, harmonized conditions for placing construction products on the market. Its appearance is associated with PN-EN 50575 norm that has also come into force and provided details regarding requirements for cables and wires as construction products. PN-EN 50575 describes methods of testing, verification and confirmation of fire performance of the items being subject to CPR regulation.

As a consequence cable manufacturers are obliged to draw up Declarations of Performance (EN: DoP) and put CE mark on construction products being subject to the aforementioned standard. DoP should be drawn up by the cable manfacturer once cables are tested in accordance with EN 13501-6 by the notifying body.

EN 13501-6 introduces a new term - „reaction to fire” - and defines classes such as:

Aca, B1ca, B2ca, Cca, Dca, Eca, Fca

The highest class describing reaction to fire is Aca, the lowest is Fca. Current technical possibilities enable production of cables made of termoplastic compounds meeting B2ca requirement. Practically speaking we can then talk about the following classes:

B2ca, Cca, Dca, Eca, Fca

Depending on reaction to fire, various classification methods defined in PN-EN 50575 will be applied:

System 1+ - B2ca and Cca classification with testing carried out by notified body and as well as further production auditing and plant production control. Declaration of Performance is drawn up by the manufacturer on the basis of certificate issued by the notified body. 1+ system classification requires also constant production controls of notified body.

System 3 - Eca and Dca classification carried out by the manufacturer and based on test results provided by the notified body. DoP is drawn up by the manufacturer on the basis of classification report given by the laboratory.

System 4 - Fca classification carried out by the manufacturer - cables do not meet any other requirement regarding reaction to fire. DoP issues on the basis of tests conducted by manufacturer himself.

Each EU member state will define the scope of application for the given cable class on its own. PIGE has already put forward its own suggestions regarding requirements for the Polish market - please see our short presentation here.

Cable Factory BITNER goes to great lengths to ensure that the cables being subject to CPR meet all, even most stringent requirements. We've been having our cables tested for many years what made it possible to work on constructions that would live up to the market's expectations. Majority of our products has already been CPR classified but we are constantly adding some more DoPs for new items. Please feel free to contact our CPR specialist (wsparcie.techniczne@bitner.com.pl, tel. +48 12 389 40 24 ext. 123) who will be happy to answer all your questions.