WCA March 2017

23 / 84

21
Wire & Cable ASIA – March/April 2017
Industrynews
MANUFACTURERS risk losing out on
trade opportunities with Europe
without appropriate CE marking for
their cable products, says UK
company BRE Global, which
specialises in fire, security and
environmental testing and
certification of construction products.
The warning comes with just months
to go to the 1st July 2017 deadline
when CE marking becomes
mandatory for power, control and
communication cables placed on the
European market.
The company is a long-serving
notified body for the testing and
certification of a wide portfolio of
construction products and systems
and is well versed with the
requirements of the Construction
Products Regulation (CPR).
With the publication of EN 50575, the
EU’s harmonised product standard
for power, control and
communication cables for permanent
use in buildings, manufacturers
entered a window of transition to
comply with regulation.
But despite a deadline extension
from December 2016 to July 2017,
some manufacturers are still holding
back, either daunted by the process
or hesitant in the current state of
uncertainty following the UK’s vote to
leave the EU.
Classification Fca can be
self-declared by the manufacturer,
while classifications Dca and Eca
require testing by a notified test
laboratory. However, Aca, Bca and
Cca follow a more complex
certification process which must be
undertaken by a notified certification
body such as BRE Global.
This process mainly involves testing
to two fire performance standards,
EN 50399 and EN 60332-1-2,
followed by classification to EN
13501-6 based on the outcome of
the tests.
The EN 50575 standard also includes
the use of new extended field of
application (EXAP) rules that allow for
the testing of a family of products to
be classified to a certain fire property
without testing all of the individual
members of the family.
The safety testing requirement for
cable CE marking is exclusively
focused on fire performance.
With its resources in fire testing,
research and investigation, BRE
Global says that clients can be fully
confident of the integrity of its cable
testing and CE marking services.
The company is encouraging
manufacturers to contact its cables
certification team for information on
their CE marking and product testing
requirements, however small, large or
technically complex.
BRE Global Ltd – UK
Website:
BRE Global turns up heat on cable CE marking