ECOS | Environmental Coalition on Standards

21 June 2021

Letter to European Commission – Final chance to revise the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) for decade of decarbonisation

ECOS - Environmental Coalition on Standards, and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) have sent a letter to European Commission officials asking them to rethink the final text for the revised Construction Product Regulation (CPR) before it is scrutinised by the Commission, and presented to MEPs and the Council for approval.

Environmental organisations argue that minimum performance and information requirements for construction products should be set and implemented directly in EU legislation, rather than in voluntary standards, driven by industry, as is currently the case.

The Environmental Coalition on Standards (ECOS), and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), thank the European Commission for their efforts so far in evaluating the existing CPR, and developing a range of interesting ideas for the forthcoming proposal. Regrettably however, our understanding is that this lengthy process will conclude with a legislative proposal that will fall short. While relevant information and product requirements aligned with the Sustainable Products Initiative, assessment, and controls on environmental impacts will be omitted from the CPR revision legislative proposal now being finalised. This is the last chance to revise the CPR for this decade of decarbonisation. Our organisations strongly believe the legislative proposal for revision of the CPR must include EU-level requirements across three key pillars as described below:

  • Performance: A basis for EU legislative product requirements that can establish maximum carbon footprint and environmental impact values, circularity requirements, and functional performance requirements for each product groups, set by regulators, and not pseudo-regulated by industry through standards.
  • Information: Structured legislative product information requirements within the CPR itself to require communication of full lifecycle information that is intelligible, open access, and comparable using PEF as a common guiding basis for data quality and lifecycle assessment.
  • Governance and implementation: Legislative provisions for developing implementing legislation that formalise a clear governance framework to support development of the requirements outlined above through implementing measures per product group (e.g., one for structural products, and one for insulation products).

Access the letter here. 

Download the document

ECOS is co-funded by the European Commission and EFTA Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EISMEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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