scope:

The Construction Products Directive 89/106/EEC (CPD) contained six essential requirements for works that gave rise to a number of 'essential characteristics' for products that had to be covered by European Technical Specifications (ETS) for construction products (harmonised European Standards (CEN) and European Technical Approvals (EOTA)). As derogation from this rule, essential requirement No 3 "Hygiene, health and the environment" (ER3) was dealt with via a convention in the ETS which did not take it directly into account, mainly due to the absence of European harmonised test methods. In order to solve this problem, the European Commission gave CEN, the European Committee for Standardization, a mandate (M/366) in 2005 to develop European harmonised test methods for the assessment of release or emission of dangerous substances from construction products.