Taking the lead with CE marking

Corus Construction & Industrial (CC&I) has become the world’s first steel producer to gain approval for plates and sections against the Construction Products Directive. The approval means that CC&I is able to apply the CE mark to all of its conforming products manufactured against the structural steels standard EN 10025:2004 Parts 1 to 6.

In many European countries, but not yet the UK, CE marking is compulsory. “From 1 September 2006, all material used in the construction industry within Europe must be CE marked. So it was vital that we achieved this approval,” said Alan Morris, Business Manager Quality Assurance and Standards of CC&I.

The audit for approval was conducted over a five day period during August and approval validated from 5 September 2005. Corus will now begin adding the CE mark to the inspection certificates of its conforming poducts.

The BCSA is currently in the process of producing guidance about the mark for steelwork contractors which will be available towards the end of 2006/start of 2007.

“Members have shown a lot of interest regarding the CE mark. The BCSA will be encouraging its members and manufacturers to follow in Corus’ footsteps and use the CE marking system on their products” said British Constructional Steelwork Association Director of Engineering David Moore. “It is possible that the CE mark may be seen as a way of identifying a quality product and companies not using the mark may become less favoured.”