EUROPE
International Coatings Scene
in the regulation’s definition of what
is a construction product.
national standards and labelling rules
on issues like low emissions. But often
they require coatings producers to
apply different criteria to gauge safety
levels and use different testing methods.
The French authorities want to introduce labelling rules for coatings in buildings to show that they do not contain
hazardous low-emitting substances.
“Coatings companies will have to
carry out tests on their formulations
even though they know they are safe,”
said Warnon. “This will increase their
costs while it will not provide new
information to French consumers.
Furthermore it will not reduce emissions because the low-emitting substances are not banned.
“We oppose national measures like
this,” he said. “We favor European har-
monization so that the EU’s internal
market is not disrupted by national
rules.”
The German Institute for Building
Technology (DIBt), which lays down
standards for building materials in
Germany, has been imposing tougher
limits on emissions from coatings, par-
ticularly on wood coatings used on floor-
ing. The institute is technically only an
advisory body so the 16 states within
the German federation can modify the
DIBt standards.
“Standards frequently change,” said
Michael Bross, head of public relations at
the German coating industry association
(VdL). “The DIBt has introduced a test-
ing method which ensures that emis-
sions being measured come entirely from
the coating and not the substrate.”
The objective behind the EU’s pro-
posed Construction Products Regulation
is to ensure compliance with harmo-
nized EU standards, rather than nation-
al ones, so that manufacturers avoid the
problem of having to adjust their prod-
ucts to meet the requirements of indi-
vidual countries.
However the vast majority of coatings are not explicitly included with-
Coming next month in Coatings World Metallic Pigments
Industrial Coatings
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