What marks mean

British Standards (BS) are probably familiar. If a product has a BS number stamped on it - or featured in the product literature - it means the manufacturer claims its product conforms to that British Standard. If you feel so inclined, you can buy a copy of the BS and check that for yourself. Hardly surprisingly, that doesn’t happen too often. But if you don’t, you’re taking the manufacturer’s word that the product complies.

Many, but far from all, BSs are complemented by Kitemark schemes. Here, the manufacturer’s claim of compliance is backed by a quality system monitored by the British Standards Institution (BSI).

BSs are gradually being superseded by European Standards, but these are always given a BS EN number in the UK, so retaining the BS bit. For example BS EN 1401-1 for plastics drainage.

British and European Standards are both generally geared towards traditional and familiar products : it takes time to develop standards and this procedure does not help producers of innovative products to obtain the approvals that will enable them to overcome natural resistance to their products. That’s where British Board of Agrément (BBA) certificates come in.

The BBA has been awarding its Agrément Certificates to innovative products (for which no British Standards apply) for decades, with the main focus of the assessments resting firmly on the requirements of building regulations in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. These certificates also give the BBA’s judgement on the important performance parameters of the product – thermal, structural or acoustic, for example, that allow conclusions to be drawn on the fitness for purpose and, consequently, compliance with product regulations.

The government has designated the BBA to be the UK body responsible for the issue of European Technical Approvals (ETAs), a kind of pan-European BBA Certificate, but based on common assessment methods agreed across Europe and not UK building regulations. ETAs enable products to go on to be CE marked, as do ‘harmonised’ (which means agreed by the overseeing body in Europe) European Standards. However not all European Standards are harmonised as being suitable for CE marking.

If a product is CE marked, this means that it complies with the requirements of the harmonised EN or is covered by an ETA. We can expect a substantial number of product sectors being suitable for CE marking by the end of the decade.