WRITTEN QUESTION E-3385/98

by John Iversen (PSE) to the Commission

(17 November 1998)

Subject: EU classification of building materials' reaction to fire

The Commission is about to finalise common fire classification methods for building materials. If building materials are to be tested realistically, this must be done in large-scale tests such as the ISO-approved Room Corner test and not just using the Single Burning Item (SBI) method, a medium-scale test without ceiling, with small gas burners and with means of extraction.

1. What specific changes does the Commission intend to make to the SBI method to increase its reliability and so that a material cannot be classified as non-flammable if a producer sends it to one test laboratory, when it would have been classified as flammable if it had been tested in another?

2. Will the Room Corner test in future also be used in appeals or as a means of quality checking in cases where the SBI test produces doubtful or disputed results, or for the approval of new or unknown products?

Who can appeal for the result of an SBI test to verified in a Room Corner test or a similar realistic large-scale test?

Who is to decide in cases of doubt?

3. Can it be guaranteed that Euroclass A, B and C products must not produce flashover in Room Corner tests?

Can it be guaranteed that Euroclass D materials must not produce flashover at below 300 kW (within 10-20 minutes) and Euro-class E materials at below 100 kW (within 0-10 minutes)?

4. Will the Commission change the misleading wording in the Euroclass titles so that flammable class D and E materials are not described as having "Acceptable contribution/reaction to fire" but instead "Medium contribution to fire" or "High contribution to fire", as the case may be?

5. Can the Commission say for certain that human lives could not have been saved if reference to toxic smoke/fumes had not been removed from the main fire classifications and the Member States had not been allowed to ignore that safety parameter?

Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission

(18 December 1998)

The Commission is currently working on a European classification system for the reaction to fire performance of construction products, as one of the implementing measures associated with Council Directive 88/106/EEC of 21 December 1988 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to construction products(1). A draft decision on the new system will be presented to the standing committee on construction for opinion in December 1998.

The following points can be made in relation to the Honourable Member's detailed questions:

1. The single burning item (SBI) test, one of four test methods to be used for construction products other than floorings, was developed by a group of official European fire laboratories (designated by the Member States), under the control of the Commission and the Member States in the Community fire regulators group and the standing committee on construction. The latter gave a positive opinion on the configuration of the SBI test in December 1997, but requested that technical refinements to the test be made to improve its repeatability and reproducibility. The task of improving the test was again entrusted to the official laboratories group, part-financed by the Commission. This work is now largely complete and a final report on the work is due in February 1999, together with a draft European standard describing the test. The Commission is confident that the improvements to the SBI and the test procedure will allow the consistent classification of construction products across Europe.

2. The draft Commission decision on the European classification system foresees a continuing role for the room corner test, and possibly other reference tests, in cases of doubt about the appropriateness of the classification based on the smaller scale tests. The precise role of the room corner test and the conditions of appeal will be fully defined, either in a European standard or a Commission decision, on the basis of an agreement between the Commission and Member States. Discussions on this matter will continue in the first half of 1999.

3. The Commission can confirm that the behaviour of products in the room corner test, in particular the time to flashover, was a key element in fixing the class limits for the new classification system and that the correlation between the behaviour of products in the SBI test and that in the room corner is very good. The behaviour of products in the room corner was characterised as follows: no flashover at all (corresponding to the proposed new classes A1, A2 and B), no flashover at 100 kW (corresponding to the new class C) and no flashover before 2 minutes at 100 kW (corresponding to the new class D). Class E products will also show flashover at 100 kW, before 2 minutes.

4. The text describing the various classes in the new system has now been removed, precisely because the Commission and Member States considered that its terms could have been misleading on the market.

5. The Commission considers that smoke production is an important element in assessing the reaction to fire performance of construction products and, for this reason, has included it within the proposed new European classification system. However, within the context of Directive 89/106/EEC, the Member States remain responsible for ensuring that building and civil engineering works on their territory are designed and executed in a way that does not endanger the safety of people, domestic animals and property. As the underlying philosophy of such building regulations varies across Europe, so too does the manner in which Member States deal with the hazard arising from smoke production in a fire. The proposed classification system, with the smoke class declared separately, respects these differences in tradition between the Member States, without in any way diminishing the importance of smoke production to fire safety. In taking this approach, the Commission does not prejudge the regulatory systems in the Member States, but proposes a flexible and transparent system that allows the authorities to regulate for all aspects of fire safety in an effective manner.

(1) OJ L 40, 11.2.1989.