EU implements new rules for building materials on July 1

From July 1 this year, the European Union's CPR for Building Products Regulations will be enforced to replace the old Building Products Directive CPD. People in the industry believe that the entry into force of this regulation will usher in new challenges to China’s export of nearly 100 billion U.S. dollars worth of building materials to the EU. In 2011, the European Union promulgated the new Building Products Regulations (CPRs). According to the timetable set out at that time, the transition period between CPR and CPD was two years, and CPR will then enter the enforcement stage.

In recent years, China’s building materials exports to Europe have been growing steadily. The annual export value has accumulated 5 billion US dollars and the growth rate is 30%. According to customs data in 2012, China’s building materials exported to the European Union accounted for more than 800 million U.S. dollars for only one major item of sheet metal, and 9.8 billion U.S. dollars for glass doors and windows, architectural hardware, scaffolds, plates, and functional materials. China National Building Materials Corporation has become one of the EU's major building product suppliers. At present, CE mark as the EU's mandatory requirements for product safety, has become China's construction product pass to Europe, China CE without a CE standard will lose EU customers. It is understood that there are about 608 EU coordination standards for construction products. Many Chinese companies are unfamiliar with the CE certification standards, resulting in blind production but unable to export.