CEN TC 254 - Flexible Sheets for Waterproofing NORMAPME Mirror Committee

This is the Mirror Committee for TC 254 - Flexible Sheets for Waterproofing. The Mirror Committee is the group of SMEs that support the NORMAPME expert in presenting the views of SMEs during the drafting of standard.

Flexible sheets of waterproofing standards affect roofers and manufacturers. SMEs represent users and manufacturers of these products. Worldwide demand for roofing materials is forecast to rise by 2.7 percent per year through 2008 to nearly seven billion square meters, with a value of almost US$48 billion.

Enjoying more than 70% share of the European flat roofing market, bitumen membranes are estimated to cover annually over 200 million square meters of roof area. They are installed by a workforce of over 40 000 trained applicators. Considering the importance of these standards and the number of SMEs in this sector, IFD, one of the most representative international sectoral SME associations active in 15 European countries, has become a member of NORMAPME to work more effectively on European and international standardisation.

Originally, both the requirements and tests were different regarding products and applications in all European countries. The bitumen and plastic sheets are used for waterproofing, but waterproofing is done differently in various countries. Not only the products are different but also the methods of ‘laying’ vary. It is however necessary to ensure responsibility for the final performance. All changes will have an impact on the results and with these results one can also influence the market. The CEN TC 254, whose work is followed by our expert Mr Detlef Stauch, decided to develop test methods relevant for all waterproofing sheets and other application related requirements. The committee has aimed at not excluding the established products from the EU-market.

However, there are still some problems arising from the decisions of the Commission mainly regarding fire issues as well as health and safety regulations. All these problems should be solved during the next revision of the standards and, as a result, the drafted product standards should no longer be delayed.

The Work Items dealing with product standards are of much interest for the users and for SMEs. Much of them are in revision because of unclear and imprecise wordings. So, some test labs or producers misunderstood and the results or labels (markings) of the products were misleading. Products with different test results were marked in the same way or vice versa.

For each application a separate standard has been drafted. This has been done because of the relevant mandates of the commissions. A lot of products can be used for different applications. As result the producers have to mark and label one product for different applications. This means more than one related standard and sometimes different tests and different AOC.

This produces unnecessary cost and is confusing for producers and users. In a lot of countries it was not in such a way before the harmonisation of the standards. Different types of products were standardised independently of the use.

It would be much easier for the producer and the users to go back to this system. This is not an easy task. Not only the standards, but also the mandates have to be changed. A first step would be to have the same AOC for similar products.

The TC 254 is working in this field which is much in line with the wishes of SMEs in this area.

The aim objective is to have not anymore application standards but product standards regardless of their application

Important discussion documents, such as draft standards, can be found under [All documents], the [group forum] is where Mirror Committee members can discuss work in progress.

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This Mirror Committee is managed by Karine Iffour (k.iffour@normapme.com). The NORMAPME expert is Mr Detlef Stauch