Performing third-party tasks in the process of assessment and verification of the constancy of performance of construction products

Conditions for performing activities

1. The approved body is a legal person or a natural person–craftsman.
2. The approved body is a third-party body, which is independent from the organisation or construction product it is assessing. A body that is part of a company or professional association that represents a company engaged in the design, production, procurement, assembly, use or maintenance of a construction product being assessed may be considered such a body, under the condition that its independence and absence of any form of conflict of interest may be proven.
3. The approved body, its general management and staff responsible for the execution of third-party tasks in the procedure of assessment and verification of the constancy of performance may not be the designer, manufacturer, supplier, installer, buyer, owner, user or maintainer of the construction product being assessed, nor an authorised representative of any of those parties. This does not exclude the use of the assessed products that are necessary for the activity of the approved body or the use of the product for personal purposes.
4. The approved body, its general management and staff responsible for the execution of third party tasks in the procedure of assessment and verification of the constancy of performance may not be directly involved in the design, production or execution, trade, installation, use or maintenance of those construction products, nor represent parties involved in such activities. They may not participate in any activities that could be in conflict with their objectivity and impartiality that is associated with the activities for which the decision was issued. This, in particularly, is applicable to consultancy services.
5. The approved body guarantees that the activity of its associated companies or subcontractors will not affect the confidentiality, objectivity or impartiality of its activities of assessment and/or verification.
6. The approved body and its staff perform third-party tasks in the procedures of assessment and verification of the constancy of performance, with the highest degree of professional integrity and the necessary technical expertise for the specific area, and must be free of all pressures and guidance, especially financial, that could influence its judgement or the results of its assessment and/or verification activities, particularly by persons or groups of persons sharing the same interest for the result of those activities.
7. The approved body must be able to perform all third-party tasks in the procedure of assessment and verification of constancy of performance it is designated for in accordance with Articles 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the Regulation on the alignment of the area of construction products with Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 in the transitional period (OG 46/13) within the scope of their decision, regardless of whether the said tasks are performed by the approved body or someone else on its behalf and under its responsibility.
8. At all times and for every system for the assessment and verification of constancy of performance, and for each type or category of construction product, essential characteristic and task within the scope of the decision, the approved body must have the following at its disposal:
9. necessary personnel possessing the technical knowledge and sufficient and appropriate experience for performing third-party tasks in the procedure of assessment and verification of the constancy of performance;
10. the necessary description of procedures pursuant to which the assessment of performance is performed, ensuring the transparency and reproducibility of those procedures; it must have the appropriate policies and procedures in place that distinguish between the tasks it performs as the approved body from other activities;
11. the necessary procedures for performing activities which take account of the size of the company, sector in which it operates, its structure, degree of complexity of the product technology in question, and mass or serial nature of the production processes.
12. The approved body must have the financial resources necessary for the appropriate execution of technical and administrative tasks associated with the activities for which it was issued a decision, and must also have access to all necessary equipment or facilities.
13. Persons responsible for the performance of activities for which the decision was issued must have the following:
14. sound technical and vocational training covering all third-party tasks in the procedure of assessment and verification of the constancy of performance within the relevant scope for which the body has been issued a decision;
15. satisfactory knowledge of the requirements for the assessment and verification they perform, and sufficient authority to perform the said activities;
16. appropriate knowledge and understanding of the applicable harmonised standards and relevant provisions of the Regulation;
17. the ability required to draw up the certificates, records and reports to demonstrate that the assessments and verifications were performed.
18. The impartiality of the approved body, its general management and assessment staff must be guaranteed. The remuneration and other rewards to the management of approved bodies and assessment staff may not depend on the number of performed assessments, nor on the results of such assessments.
19. The approved body must possess liability insurance.
20. The staff of the approved body must be obliged to observe professional secrecy concerning all information obtained in the course of performing its tasks pursuant to Articles 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the Regulation, except in relation to the Ministry and State Inspectorate of the Republic of Croatia. Proprietary rights must be protected.
21. The approved body participates in, or ensures that assessment staff are informed of the appropriate standardisation activities and activities of coordination groups of approved bodies, and as general guidelines applies administrative decisions and documents drafted as a result of the work of the said group.

Approved bodies prove that requirements are met with the accreditation certificate issued by the national accreditation body on capacities according to the requirements laid down by specific Croatian standards, with the addition of specific conditions for construction products or groups of construction products, as follows:

1. Approved body for the certification of products according to the System 1+ and System 1 must be equipped according to the requirements of the standard HRN EN 45011:1998 (HRN EN 17065:2013), and additionally according to the requirements of the standard HRN EN ISO/IEC 17025:2007 at least for one construction product in the area of products belonging to construction products or groups of construction products for which the approved body is issued the decision.
2. Approved body for the certification of factory production control according to System 2+ must be equipped according to the requirements of standard HRN EN 45011:1998 (HRN EN 17065:2013).
3. Approved testing laboratory for determination of the product type must be equipped according to the requirements of the standard HRN EN ISO/IEC 17025:2007.
4. Approved testing laboratories for the assessment and verification of performance of construction products in relation to essential characteristics: reaction to fire, resistance to fire, external fire performance, acoustic performance or emissions of dangerous substances, prove the requirements are met with the accreditation certificate issued by the national accreditation body on the capacity according to the requirements of the standards HRN EN ISO/IEC 17025:2007 with the addition of specific requirements from the standards for testing construction products or groups of construction products.

Personnel requirements are deemed to be met if the approved body, for the activity of issuing certificates on constancy of permanence, employs on a full-time permanent basis an expert for the construction product or group of construction products who may be appointed for issuing certificates for the said products.

An expert for construction products for the activity of issuing certificates on constancy of performance is considered a person who has a total of a minimum of five years of work experience on the following tasks:

1. design and/or production of construction products in the product area of the construction products for which the person is appointed;
2. assessment of compliance and/or issuance of certificates of compliance for construction products in the product area of the construction products for which the person is appointed;
3. design and/or construction of construction works in the professional field in which construction products are used from the product area of the construction products for which the person is appointed, and
4. standardisation and/or expert analytical construction tasks concerning construction products, with a minimum of three years of work experience on one of those tasks.

For the issuance of certificates of compliance of factory production control, for activities of assessment and verification of the performance of construction products with regard to the essential characteristics: reaction to fire, resistance to fire, external fire performance, acoustic performance and emissions of dangerous substances, and for the activity of determination of product-type, the personnel requirements are deemed met if the approved body employs on a full-time, permanent basis, an expert for construction products or group of construction products for which certificates are issued on the compliance of factory production control may be appointed. In this case, the expert for construction products is considered a person who on the prescribed tasks (listed above in items 1–4) has a total of three years of work experience, of which at least two years on one of those tasks.

In the case of a testing laboratory for the activities of assessment and verification of construction product performance in relation to the essential characteristics: reaction to fire, resistance to fire, external fire performance, acoustic performance and emissions of dangerous substances, activities mentioned in above items 1. and 2. are criteria for the expert for construction products, and they refer to the knowledge and experience regarding the testing of those essential characteristics independent of the product area, or the construction product for which the person is appointed.

The expert for construction products must have passed the professional examination for the performance of tasks in construction according to special regulations.

Fulfilling the requirements on personnel is proven with a certificate from the national accreditation body that the qualification of the responsible persons for a construction product or a group of construction products has been established during the accreditation procedure.

For the implementation of third-party tasks in the procedure of assessment and verification of the constancy of performance, a legal person or natural person-craftsman submits an application to the Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning, which then verifies the fulfilment of requirements and issues a decision thereto, following the previously obtained opinion of the Construction Products Commission.

The approved body may begin to perform third-party tasks in the process of assessment and verification of constancy of performance of construction products from the date of final force and effect of the decision.

Required documentation

To be appended to the application for issuance of the decision:

• list of the types and scope of work and activities, and construction products or groups of construction products for which the issuance of decisions is sought, and technical specifications determined for that product or group of products,
• decision on entry and excerpt from the court register,
• proof of fulfilment of requirements for approved bodies,
• statute and/or other general acts showing that the applicant has met all other requirements,
• decision on appointment of the responsible person for each construction product or group of construction products for which issuance of decisions is sought, and proof that the responsible person fulfils the prescribed requirements,
• data on technical equipment, personnel and locations where work is performed,
• proof of insurance against damages that the legal person could incur in the performance of activities for which the decision is issued,
• proof of payment of the costs of the decision issuance procedure.

For the purpose of establishing the facts important for issuing decisions, the applicant is obliged, at the request of the Ministry, to deliver other documents and evidence, and to enable an inspection of technical equipment and locations where works are performed.

The approved bodies prove their meeting of requirements by an accreditation certificate issued by the national accreditation body on their qualification pursuant to the requirements determined by Croatian standards, with the addition of specific conditions for construction products or groups of construction products.

Personnel requirements are deemed to be met if the approved body, for the activity of issuing certificates on constancy of permanence, employs on a full-time permanent basis an expert for the construction product or group of construction products who may be appointed for issuing certificates for the said products.

Fee

35 HRK application

Costs of decision issuance procedure

Decision on fulfilment of requirements (HRK 1000)

Decision on amendments to the decision on fulfilment of requirements regarding responsible persons (800 HRK)

Account number for electronic payments:

Beneficiary: State Budget of the Republic of Croatia

IBAN: HR12100010051863000160

Model: HR62

Reference number: 5665-47061-43-576187

Competent authority and regulations

Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning

Ulica Republike Austrije 20, Zagreb

Directorate for Construction and Energy Efficiency in Construction

Product Contact Point for Construction

Construction Products Act (OG 76/13, 30/14, 130/17)

Regulation on harmonisation of the area of construction products with Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 in a transitional period (OG 46/13)

Ordinance on conformity assessment, documents of conformity and the marking of construction products (OG 103/08, 147/09, 87/10, 129/11)

Ordinance on the supervision of construction products (OG 113/08)

Ordinance on professional examination of persons performing construction and physical planning tasks (OG 129/15)

Other regulations from the field of building

Approval for performing activities

Decision on the fulfilment of requirements.

Legal remedies

No appeal may be filed against the decision, though an administrative suit may be filed.