New obligations on building industry suppliers

Suppliers to the construction industry will have to ensure that the products and materials they trade in meet European quality standards and can be traced back to the manufacturers in line with a new proposal made by the European Commission.

Importers in particular would have to inform the authorities or trace their product back to the maker should the item not be found to conform to the standards.

At all levels, operators would be expected to keep records to ensure that all products carry proper certification. The proposal is part of an amendment the Commission wants to make to the existing directive on construction products in order to cut bureaucracy and red tape.

The proposals were explained in a presentation to construction stakeholders by Joseph Micallef of the Malta Standards Authority. The presentation was made during a seminar organised jointly by the Malta-EU Steering and Action Committee, the MSA and the Malta Business Bureau.

The amended directive is intended to come into force by July 2011. It also aims to remove all remaining regulatory and technical obstacles that impede the free circulation of construction products across EU member states.

Mr Micallef explained how the proposal includes improvements to the CE marking for construction products. The process of obtaining the CE marking would be simplified in order to cut costs to manufacturers, 90 per cent of which were small and medium-sized businesses, he said.