warringtonfire News

A leading fire safety expert has urged manufacturers of wall covering products to act now to ensure that their products meet the requirements of a new European Standard. Manufacturers who dont have a CE Mark on their products after 1st January 2011 will not legally be able to place their products on the European market.

Janet Murrell, an expert in reaction to fire issues and Technical Manager at Warrington Certification Limited, explains:

"All decorative wall products in roll and panel form must be evaluated against the essential requirements of the Construction Products Directive (CPD) to enable them to be placed on the European Market. The new European Standard EN 15102: 2007, which will be mandatory from 1st January 2011 applies to all forms of wall covering products in roll and panel form, supplied for hanging onto internal walls or partitions by means of adhesive for decoration purposes. Some examples are coated wallpaper, flocked wallpaper, self adhesive borders, metalized wall coverings or even cork based wall coverings"

Under the standard, manufacturers must demonstrate that their products meet the legal performance requirements prior to applying the CE Mark. The European standard details a number of tests that wall coverings must now undergo in order to be compliant including:

Janet Murrell comments:

"The mandatory requirement to test and certificate wall covering products in support of CE Marking could have a big impact on smaller enterprises since they will need to conform to the EU legislation and may not have the procedures in place yet to do this. I advise customers to speak to experts such as Warrington Certification so that they can be fully conversant with what is now legally required and so that they can continue to market product in as cost effective manner as possible"

For more information on the above issues relating to European Testing or CE marking of wall coverings contact Leigh Hill or Janet Murrell and Warrington Certification