Window standard law jeopardizes businesses

By Anna McLauchlin

Date: 16/12/04

Thousands of European window and door makers will be put out of business if the EU approves a CE marking standard for these products in January, small business associations (SMEs) have warned.

The standard, which has been agreed and will be voted on by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) next month, will require all window and door manufacturing companies to run a series of safety tests for any product they put on the market. All construction products in the EU have to carry a CE marking.

The tests, SMEs claim, cost between €5,000 and €20,000, which would be financially impossible for craftspeople and small companies producing small numbers of 'non-series' doors and windows, such as tailor-made products for older houses or churches. It wants CEN to distinguish between the testing requirements for non-series producers from bigger manufacturers that make large numbers of one product.

Loucas Gourtsayannis, director of European SME standards association Normapme, said: "If the standard is accepted in its current form…it will force many SMEs out of business as they will not be able cope with the costs. We are afraid that such a precedent might open the door to the expansion of such treatments to all sorts of sectors where SMEs are active."

A CEN official told European Voice that the Committee was aware of the issue and that it would be discussed before the January vote.

"It's possible to add a clause without having to go back and reapprove the standard," he said.

If added, the clause would either allow smaller producers to put their products on the market without the CE marking or to have the CE marking without testing, he said.

The European SME standards association Normapme warned against the adoption by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) of a CE marking standard requiring certain safety tests for doors and windows in January 2005.