ETA – European Technical Assessment

The CPR and innovative products

The CPR sets out three product categories:

  1. Products covered by a harmonized standard;
  2. Products that are not fully covered by a harmonised standard, that is, when a harmonized standard exists but for at least one of the product’s essential characteristics:
    1. the assessment method is not appropriate;
    2. the harmonised standard does not provide for any assessment method;
  3. Products do not fall within the scope of any existing harmonised standard;

For products in category 1, the Declaration of Performance and related CE marking are mandatory.

For products in category 2 and 3, if the Manufacturer decided to submit a Declaration of Performance, he may use  an EAD followed by the issuing of an ETA by a designated Technical Assessment Body (TAB) and, then, affix the CE marking after he has implemented the AVCP system as stated in the EAD.

 

Technical Assessment Bodies (TABs)

TABs are organisations whose requirements are defined in Annex IV to the CPR and designated by their respective Member States as competent to produce EADs and to issue ETAs. The name and address of each TAB and the product areas for which it is designated are communicated to the European Commission and to other Member States.

TABs issue European Technical Assessments (ETAs) in the product areas (listed in Annex IV to the CPR) for which they have been designated and are competent to produce EADs in the same areas.

Once an ETA has been issued for a product, the Manufacturer shall carry out the AVCP activities in order to draw up the DoP and affix the CE marking; if the AVCP systems involves Notified Bodies, the Manufacturer shall address them in order to obtain the Certificate of constancy of performance (for AVCP systems 1 or 1+) or the Certificate of conformity of factory production control.

 

CE Mark based on ETA

The Manufacturer applying for an ETA undertakes a voluntary certification process. Once he has obtained the ETA, the only way to express the performance relating to the essential characteristics in accordance with the respective European Assessment Document is through the DoP. The DoP will indicate the number of the European Assessment Document (EAD) and the number of the European Technical Assessment (ETA) issued for the product in question.  In this case as well, in order to draw up the DoP, the Manufacturer shall apply the correct AVCP system and resort, when required, to the intervention of the Notified Body. Finally, it should be noted that the ETA has no expiration date.

 

ETA – EUROPEAN TECHNICAL ASSESSMENT

CPR 305/2011 defines the European Technical Assessment – ETA as “the documented assessment of the performance of a construction product, in relation to its essential characteristics, in accordance with the respective European Assessment Document”.

 

The ETA is a document issued on a voluntary basis providing information on the performance of a construction product in relation to the essential characteristics; it is issued for products that do not fall within the scope of a harmonized standard or that for at least one of the essential characteristics, the assessment method is not appropriate or does not exist; the issuing of the ETA is based on the harmonized technical specification “European Assessment Document” – EAD.

ETAs are issued by the Technical Assessment Body (TAB) that also defines the relevant EADs. ITC is a TAB designated for many Product Areas (PACs) so it can define EADs, or collaborate in their definition, and issue ETAs. Lists of of the PACs for which ITC is designated can be found on the NANDO website https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/nando/index.cfm?fuseaction=notifiedbody.notifiedbody&refe_cd=NANDO%5FINPUT%5F218412).

The Italian Technical Assessment Body (ITAB) was established by virtue of Italian Legislative Decree 106/2017. This Body is the only TAB at national level which will cover all the product areas (PACs). Pending the definition of  ITAB’s operating procedures, on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding entered into by the Italian Central Technical Service of the Superior Council of Public Works and the Construction Technologies Institute of the National Research Council Italy, the latter receives and takes on the preliminary activity for the issuing of ETAs also for the PACs for which STC was designated (https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/nando/index.cfm?fuseaction=notification.pdf&dir_id=33&ntf_id=283457 ).

The ETA for a product shall include the performance to be declared, by levels or classes, or in a description, of those essential characteristics chosen by the Manufacturer among those provided for in the relevant EAD, and the system of assessment and verification of constancy of performance (AVCP).

 


List of ETAs

Requests to start a procedure for issuing an ETA shall be sent to the following email address: segreteria.itab@itc.cnr.it

Copies of ETAs shall be requested to the ETA holder, not to ITC-CNR.