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::: CE marking: the time has come
of Domenico Adelizzi
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As of March 1,
2009, European
parquet producers
will be obliged to
apply a CE Mark
that guarantees
the safety of their
products.
Our analysis
of harmonized
standard
EN 14.342.
At the start of 2002, the European
standard harmonization
agency CEN (responsible
for studying and issuing
technical standards valid
for all European Community nations
in every productive sector)
published a package of technical
standards for products
that practically constitutes the
European international reference
for the unequivocal definition
of quality levels and conformity
classification of various types of
wooden elements used in floors
As of March 1,
2009, European
parquet producers
will be obliged to
apply a CE Mark
that guarantees
the safety of their
products.
Our analysis
of harmonized
standard
EN 14.342.
Domenico Adelizzi
in general, and the identification,
recognition, and classification
of parquet and wood floors
in particular.
A few years later in 2005, the CEN
issued harmonized technical standard
EN 14342:2005 for all EC
members with the purpose of requiring
the marking of all wooden
elements involved in the laying of
parquet and wood floors in general.
Initially, the standard’s parameters
were to be applied as of
March 1, 2008, but a subsequent
Directive issued in December 2007 postponed the obligation for
the marking of all wooden elements
with the CE Mark until
March 1, 2009 (only a few more
months remain!), justifying the delay
by the difficulties that many small
and medium producers were
having in complying.
::: Technical product standards
Technical product standards assume
paramount importance in
the wood floor sector obviously
because all European producers
have to adapt to the changing
specifications prescribed but especially
because these new standards
revise the methods usually
adopted for the classification of
parquet by their morphological
characteristics and the sizes of
the wooden elements composing
any type of parquet.
In just a word, the new European
technical product standards published
by the CEN provide specifications
for the most common
types of wood elements used in
wood floors currently in the market
everywhere in Europe, defining
dimensions, formats, and
quality classification for the various
types of wood. In this way,
the varied world of short and
long strips and planks, slats and
tiles, etc. will finally have its own
clear and unequivocal documentation
that demonstrates not the
specific quality of the parquet as
much as the fact that the safety
of the wood elements used has
been certified.
One important feature is that
these standards specify that a
parquet floor’s wood elements must be capable of undergoing renewal
treatment (repeated sanding
and surface treatment without
requiring re-laying) at least twice
in the product’s working life, and
also that the floor must be laid in
such way that the wood elements
that make up its pattern can be
replaced without requiring the repair
of all the others.
::: Why CE marking
The obligation of CE marking is
the final step in a process that
will guarantee that any and every
product is safe and in compliance
with the essential requisites established
by European Directive.
At the European Community level,
in order to guarantee the free circulation
of products in its many
member nations, these Directives
also known as “New Approach”
specify that products must comply
with the requisites they establish
and that in demonstration of
such respect the producer is required
to issue a conformity certificate in addition to applying the
CE mark to his product or package
(which is in practical terms
the only objective way to certify
the conformity of the product to
the requisites established by specific
EC directives).
Obligation for CE marking arises
when the European Community
issues the reference Directive
and every single member nation
ratifies it. Among the current directives
in force that oblige CE
marking, we may recall, for example,
the Machine Directive, the
Low Voltage Directive, and other
directives regarding products for
the construction industry, elevators,
toys, wood-based panels for
building, door and window
frames (to be issued soon) and
as mentioned above, as of March
1, 2009, also for the wooden elements
destined for use in wood
floors and parquet.
Bear in mind that any type of
product that falls within the range
of application of a specific EC Directive
cannot be launched in the
marked without the CE Mark, and
this means the producer has assumed
the responsibility for guaranteeing
that such specific product
is safe because it complies
with the requisites envisioned by
the directive itself.
::: Standard EN 14.342
The harmonized EC technical standard
that establishes and enforces
all the parameters to be
checked and the procedures to
be completed in order to apply
the CE mark to wood elements
for parquet and wood floors is
EN 14.342. This document entitled
“Wood floors - Characteristics,
assessment of conformity
and marking” was published by
the CEN in the month of May,
2005 at the specific request of
the European Commission and
published in the European
Gazette.
The so-called “period of coexistence”
during which marking remains
voluntary will continue until
March 1, 2009, however.
One of the Standard’s important
premises is that the term “wood
floors” is used to mean the assembly
of single wooden elements
laid over a primary structure
or the rough foundation,
whereas the term “parquet” indicates
a wood floor made with units
with a minimum top layer of
noble wood of no less than 2.5
mm prior to laying.
In a nutshell, this Standard analyzes the following elements that
are important for the safety of
users of the product.
• performance characteristics to
be declared for CE marking;
• the methods used for the determination
of these characteristics;
• production control procedures;
• conformity certification procedures;
• CE marking method.
The parties most interested in Standard
UNI EN 14.342, in other
words, those who must apply CE
marking, are the producer and
his representative authorized to
import or re-sell the product
with his own mark, or generally
speaking, the party who first
launches the product in the European
Community wood element
market.
The characteristics to be continuously
monitored by the Standard
are:
• fire resistance;
• release of formaldehyde;
• pentachlorophenol emission;
• ultimate strength;
• slipperiness;
• heat conductivity;
• durability (biological).
::: Conformity certificate
In addition to monitoring the characteristics
above, the producer of
these wooden elements for parquet
must draft an official document
known as the “conformity certificate”,
which is, practically speaking,
a public document in which he
explains the meaning of this CE
marking. This certificate gives the
producer the right to apply the CE
Mark to the products 5to be sold in
the market. Although there is no
need to attach the conformity certificate
to the product, it must be
drafted and kept available for inspection
on request. The certificate
must be signed by the owner and
legal representative of the company
that launches the product on
the market; the CE Mark, on the
other hand, must be applied to the
product itself or to a label attached
to the same or its packaging and
commercial shipping documents.
The label that certifies the CE
marking of strips, planks, slats
and so on must in any case include
the CE symbol with graphics
and shape in compliance with
European Directive No.
93/68/CEE, the producer’s identification
name or trademark and address,
the final two digits of the
year of marking, reference to the
European standard, a description
of the product, information on
laying and any other information
deemed useful for the best use of
the product.
::: The Factory Control Process
This is the instrument that permits
producers to guarantee that
their products have characteristics
that are equivalent to those
of the samples successfully subjected
to Initial Type Tests (ITT).
This process requires documental
reference and evidence in support
of the conformity of production.
The producer must check the compliance
of the original articles of
the productive line to reference Standard
EN 14.342 by applying the
methods contemplated in the respective
European technical standards.
The document must provide
the procedures, the plans for sampling,
and the methods for the control
of documentation regarding:
• the acceptance of the raw materials
used;
• the storage of the materials;
• the production processes;
• the checking of the critical characteristics
along the productive
flow;
• final testing;
• the marking and release of products.
The responsibility and authority of
the operators, the methods for the
conservation of the documents and
the recording of inspections and
tests, the maintenance performed
on the systems, the measurement
and control systems and equipment
themselves, and the procedures
for the treatment of non-conformities
must also be identified,
defined, and kept under control.
If the company has a quality system
in conformity with Standard
ISO 9.000 and complies with the
requisites specified in EN 14.432,
its production quality control system
can be safely considered to
be in compliance.
Lastly, all producers must present
documentation and certification
demonstrating the conformity of
the CE Mark to the EC reference standard
whenever requested.
::: Safety, not quality
The CE mark serves to document
that the respective product has all
the essential requisites prescribed
by EC legislation necessary to
guarantee safety during daily use,
but has nothing to say about its
quality. This latter task is assigned
to the so-called “voluntary marks
of quality” designed to demonstrate
that the performance of the
product complies with the contents
of the technical standards.
These quality marks are voluntary
and offer consumers an extra
guarantee on a specific product’s
quality above and beyond the
obligation to possess the essential
requisites established by the
EC reference directive for all nations
in the European Community.
Nothing prevents the CE Mark
from coexisting with one or more
voluntary quality marks.
::: If you fail to apply the CE Mark...
As of the moment that CE marking
becomes obligatory (March 1,
2009), the launching in the market
of packages of long planks, short
strips, and tiles (single- or multilayer)
without such CE Mark will
be punished by the recall of such
products from sale and the use or
installation of the same in buildings
will be prohibited. In the
same way, anyone who applies an
illegal CE Mark to a product will
be liable to penal prosecution.
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