Activities of Maria GRAPINI related to 2020/2028(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Implementation of the Construction Products Regulation (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 laying down harmonised conditions for the marketing of construction products (the Construction Products Regulation)
Amendments (33)
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the purpose of the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) is to remove technical barriers to trade in construction products in order to enhance their free movement in the internal market; while ensuring that products meet safety standards, no matter where they are manufactured in the EU;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas safe products are one key to reducing the accident rates, which are particularly high in the construction sector;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the slow adoption and non- citation of harmonised standards is problematic, as the adoption process is not keeping pace with developments in the sector, creating uncertainty for businesses; whereas, it is necessary to establish clear and comprehensive requirements at European level as regards the quality of construction products;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the current gaps in the content of harmonised standards are an obstacle to Member States in meeting their responsibilities with regard to structural safety, health and other construction-related matters;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Points to the specific nature of the CPR, which differs from the general principles of the new legislative framework (NLF), chiefly because it does not harmonise any specific requirements or minimum safety levels for construction products, thus unbalancing and fragmenting the internal market, but instead defines a common technical language for measuring the performance of construction products over their essential characteristics;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Considers that the common technical language must be the same for all construction products;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Highlights that the current CPR ensures the free circulation of construction products within the Union, while Member States retain control of the rules on construction works; points out that building regulations set at Member State level are generally influenced by the performance of the construction products, which are integrated in the workle a lack of EU- level product performance and information requirements weakens the Single Market for construction products;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Considers that construction products and the purpose of the common technical specifications must be explicitly described;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Is concerned that a significant number of standards do not fully cover all product requirements necessary for their use in construction works; stresses the urgent need to review standards which are incomplete in a way that all construction products can be used without further precautionary measures;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Underlines the important role of the European standardisation organisation as competent bodies for the development of harmonised standards; stresses the importance of ensuring the standardisation bodies principle role in ensuring state-of-the-art harmonised standards which reflect current innovation and the most effective practices in the industry; to that end, calls on the Commission to ensure the active involvement of the industry and other relevant stakeholders in order to ensure the highest degree of relevance of new standards;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Points to the fact that standardisation issues need to be addressed in all steps of the preparation process; calls for transparency, clarity and openness from all parties involved; highlights the need to ensure the high quality of the mandates issued by the Commission and the necessity to provide clear guidelines for the standardisation bodies; suggests establishing clearly defined timeframes for the Commission toand increase human resources in the relevant units to efficiently assess the prepared standards and clear deadlines for all parties to ensure further revision if a mandate or the CPR is found not to have been adhered to; considers it important to define the scope of the standards more precisely so that manufacturers can have clear guidance when declaring that their products fall within the scope;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Believes that owing to the current mandatory nature of standards and the fact that they are considered part of Union legislation, the texts of issued harmonised standards should be available in all Union languages; highlights the need to ensure open-access, high-quality translation and involve national standardisation bodies in the translation process; calls on the Commission to further support and simplify the financial arrangements for the translation of harmonised standards;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Highlights that Product Contact Points for Construction are implemented in all Member States and have a preponderant role to play in informing economic operators about the application of the Regulation; regrets that in 2018, only 57% of stakeholders were aware of their existence; suggests therefore to increase awareness of the existence of such contact points in each Member States;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12a. Highlights that the European Technical Assessment (ETA) can be helpful as alternative process to the standardisation system and should be maintained in way that encourages the development of innovative products and the participation of SMEs;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 c (new)
Paragraph 12 c (new)
12c. Underlines that a common technical language is key to promote a circular economy as it allows manufacturers to display their products’ performance in a common manner; further, considers that a greater focus should be put on standards that can help promoting a circular economy in Europe;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Emphasises the importance of fully harnessing digital technologies, which could allow for clear, transparent and reliable information to be provided to economic operators and end-users and enable market surveillance authorities to carry out their activities more effectively; calls on the Commission to evaluate the use of such technologies, building on the existing experiences such as the EPREL database and the ongoing SCiP database and developing solutions towards a smart integration of existing data that can be scattered in different information systems;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Believes that digital solutions such as a ‘Smart DoP’Product Passport’1a could be used to allow economic operators to quickly assess and compare requirements for construction works with the information provided in the DoP; __________________ 1aDoP relies upon continued use of the current system, product passport is more general and could be used under a different regulatory framework.
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Highlights that national marks, in particular mandatory marks, continue to apply in national Member States creating additional requirements to products already covered by harmonised standards and potentially creating unjustified barriers to the free movement of goods in the Single Market; suggests that the Commission could assess whether additional action are needed in order to ensure a well functioning of the Single Market;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Is concerned by the fact that market surveillance for construction products is seen as insufficient and ineffective by the industry; emphasises that such a situation undermines the level playing field for economic operators who comply with the legislation, to the benefit of rogue traders, who do not; points out that weak and inconsistent market surveillance could lead to an increase of products that do not meet their declared performance, putting end- users at riskboth businesses, especially SMEs, and end- users at risk; outlines that market surveillance need to be enhanced and a more consistent approach needs to be applied across all Member States;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Calls on the Member States to fully implement Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, which aims to strengthen the market surveillance of products covered by Union harmonisation legislation, including the CPR and to provide the necessary financial, human and technical resources to allow market surveillance authorities to perform their duties efficiently;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Calls on the Commission to adopt implementing acts under Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 in order to determine the uniform conditions of checks, criteria for the determination of the frequency of checks and the amount of samples to be checked in relation to certain products or categories of products, and to lay down benchmarks and techniques for checks on harmonised products, including construction products, taking inspiration from the verification procedure as legally defined in ecodesign implementing measures, and the Ecodesign ADCO group collaboration among MSs to optimise surveillance activities and dedication of resources;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Considers it necessary for national market surveillance authorities responsible for construction products to cooperate closely with national building control authorities and with producers to ensure a nuanced approach in assessing the conformity of construction products used in construction works with the declared performance or intended use, as well as ensure their compliance with building regulations, thereby guaranteeing the safety and security of end-users, as well as fair competition in the internal market;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Points to the increase in online sales in the construction sector; highlights the need to ensure the effective market surveillance of construction products sold online, especially those purchased from non-EU economic operators, that might not comply with the EU legislation and therefore could influence the quality and safety of constructions;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Considers the importance of stronger demands for notified bodies to ensure quality control across member states; notes that this, among other, should entail verification of test results by inter-laboratory comparisons (Round Robin tests); believes that increased quality control will ensure that notified bodies have the widest possible authority to select products for testing in order to avoid that manufacturers can manipulate test items;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Calls on the Commission to assess how the CPR could support the placing on the market of certain used or used and remanufactured construction products in order to promote circularity of construction products;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23a. Calls for an explicit introduction of reused and recycled products into the CPR, also, the use of reused products that will be used as new product;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 b (new)
Paragraph 23 b (new)
23a. Considers it important that the introduction of sustainability is based upon a horizontal approach across product groups, such as well-known standards allowing the methodology and evaluation of characteristics pertaining to sustainability to be aligned with the rest of the CPR; stresses the importance of ensuring a level playing field and to promote an objective evaluation of the characteristics in relation to the introduction of sustainability; calls on the Commission to develop and maintain a product wide database with EPD-data; stresses the importance of Commission providing comprehensive guidance on how to rate and evaluate data on the sustainability of construction products;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Calls on the Commission to explore the relevance of incorporating certain requirements such as sustainability criteriaenvironmental into the harmonised standards under the CPR, so as to provide manufacturers with one single framework for the testing of products; stresses the importance of a proper assessment of the product categories to which such requirements would be relevant; highlights that such incorporation should not lead to an increase in the prices of construction products;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24a. Considers that environmental requirements must take into account products’ characteristics and clear environmental priorities; asks the Commission to consult all relevant stakeholders when determining such requirements in order to align them with sectors’ needs and EU’s environmental goals;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25a. Regrets that the objective of creating a level playing field by allowing simplified procedures for SMEs has not proven effective due to lack of awareness and legal uncertainties; suggests the Commission to further clarify the simplified procedure in order to be full used by SMEs;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Calls on the Commission to clarify the relationship of the CPR to related internal market legislation, such as the Ecodesign Directive16 , the Energy Labelling Regulation17 , the Waste Framework Directive18 and the Drinking Water Directive19 , and, where necessary, to streamline the relevant provisions in order to close regulatory loopholes and ensure legal clarity for businesses, while taking into account new business models; __________________ 16 OJ L 285, 31.10.2009, p. 10. 17 OJ L 198, 28.7.2017, p. 1. 18 OJ L 312, 22.11.2008, p. 3. 19 OJ L 330, 5.12.1998, p. 32.
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Stresses the need to ensure legal clarity for a transitional period as regards any revision of the CPR and the review of the CPR acquis, in order to avoid a legal vacuum; considers that it is necessary to clarify the purpose and limits of the CPR in relation to other European legislative acts in order to avoid possible overlap of legislation;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Is concerned that any revision of the CPR and, in particular, the review of the CPR aAcquis will take significant time, while manufacturers, building companies, builder-owners, awarding authorities, planners, member states users and end- users need immediate solutions to overcome the legal uncertainty resulting from the lack of updated harmonised standards and, among others, regulatory gaps; calls on the Commission to address this issue as a matter of priority, including a targeted short-term legal amendment to cope with the urgent legal and technical challenges and at the same time to forcefully advance a fundamental revision of the CPR; calls on the Commission to address this issue prior to any revision of the CPR and in the review of the CPR aAcquis;.