EOW March 2014

News Corporate

CE-marking of cables will soon be mandatory

By Johan Post johan.post@sp.se

With effect from 1 st July 2013, or as soon as an applicable product standard is available, construction products must be CE marked in accordance with the Construction Products Regulation (CPR). Up until now, there has been no available product standard for cables, but work is now in progress by CENELEC (European Committee for Electro Technical Standardisation) on producing such a standard. CENELEC TC20 has issued the following timetable for planned publication of CE marking documents: prhEN 50575: This product standard for power, control and communication cables is planned for publication during the second quarter of 2014. CE marking of cables can start when this document is published. EN 13501-6: This classification standard is planned for publication during the first quarter of 2014, and will enable cables to be classified. An EN 13501-6 report will provide the basis for CE marking of cables in accordance with prhEN 50575.

▲ ▲ The SP Technical Research Institute in Sweden can now perform the tests

in the new classification system for cables under CPR. SP can also help to minimise the number of fire tests that must be performed, by grouping cables in product families in accordance with the EXAP document (EXAP = Extended Application). SP Technical Research Institute – Sweden Website : www.sp.se

prCLC/TS 50576: EXAP, which was planned for publication at the end of 2013. Application of this document will minimise the number of tests. SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden already has accreditation for all the test standards mentioned in prhEN 50575, which means it can perform these tests now. Manufacturers can therefore already obtain information on how their products will relate to the requirements

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March 2014