THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2011 laying down harmonised conditions for the marketing of construction products and repealing Council Directive 89/106/EEC, and in particular Article 7(3) in conjunction with Article 60(b) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 obliges manufacturers of construction products to draw up a declaration of performance when a construction product that is covered by a harmonised standard or conforms to a European Technical Assessment issued for that product is placed on the market. A copy of that declaration should be supplied either in paper form or by electronic means.
(2)
In accordance with Article 7(3) and Article 60(b) of Regulation (EU) No 305/2011, the Commission is delegated the task of setting out the conditions governing the electronic processing of the declarations of performance in order that they may be made available on a website. Those conditions for making the declarations of performance available online permit the use of new information technologies and reduce costs to manufacturers of construction products and the construction sector as a whole.
(3)
Taking into account the potential specific needs of the recipients of construction products, especially the micro-enterprises amongst them, and in particular those operating in construction sites without internet access, this delegated act should not be extended to comprise any derogation from Article 7(2) of Regulation (EU) No 305/2011.
(4)
In order to ensure that the electronic form of a declaration of performance corresponding to a particular product is readily identifiable, manufacturers should link every single product, or batch of the same product, they are placing on the market to a given declaration of performance by means of the unique identification code of the product-type, which should be mentioned in the declaration of performance in accordance with Annex III to Regulation (EU) No 305/2011.
(5)
For the purpose of alleviating the administrative burden involved in the provision of declarations of performance, while also ensuring the continued reliability of the information provided in such declarations, the electronic form of a declaration of performance should not be altered after it has been made available online and should remain accessible for at least a period of 10 years after the construction product has been placed on the market or such other period that may apply by virtue of the second subparagraph of Article 11(2) of Regulation (EU) No 305/2011.
(6)
The website on which the declaration of performance is made available should be subject to monitoring and maintenance to ensure, insofar as possible, that it is kept continuously accessible and does not become unavailable as a result of technical malfunction.
(7)
The website on which the declaration of performance is made available should be accessible free of charge to the recipients of construction products. Those recipients should be instructed on how to access the website and the electronic form of the declaration of performance.
(8)
In order to enhance the efficiency and competitiveness of the European construction sector as a whole, economic operators providing declarations of performance wishing to benefit from new information technologies for the purposes of facilitating the provision of such declarations should be able to do so as soon as possible,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: