Product policy in the context of the indoor environmental quality

A. Context

One of the objectives of the European Construction Products Directive (CPD) is to harmonize the technical specifications with regard to dangerous substances and construction materials. Construction products could emit or contain dangerous substances that have been defined as dangerous substances under Commission directives and national regulations. In the future construction products may only be placed on the market in the European Union if they accord with the (second generation) harmonized technical specifications including health aspects and bear the CE mark.

B. Objectives
The goal of this research project is to improve the flow of knowledge and information vis-à-vis normalisation activities in the domain of indoor air measurements, indoor product emission testing, labeling and certification by proposing an evaluation method and standardized assessment methods for a harmonized approach relating to emissions from building materials into indoor air for implementation in Belgium. This approach will comply with current European harmonizing efforts ongoing on European level.

C. Conclusions
 International tendencies as well as national developments indicate the growing importance of building material emission testing
 Harmonisation of governmental schemes to assess volatile organic emissions in the context of the CPD is necessary to obtain transparency
 The topic of different limit values in different countries is a difficult problem to solve
 It was demonstrated that it is possible with alternative methods (µ-chamber and FLEC) to achieve a qualitative and quantitative correlation with the reference method. However there is a need to extend this comparative study to more materials
 The important influence of the quantification procedure on the emission results was demonstrated
 The possiblity to investigate microbial resistance of building materials with the so called µ-chamber technique was demonstrated
 A twofold methodology for the odour determination of building materials was developed: a quantitative method based on intensity and a qualitative method based on hedonic scale. Furthermore the basis for the development of an electronic nose specific for evaluation of building materials was laid down
 A possible evaluation scheme for Belgium on the basis of AFSSET/AgBB/prEN15052 was proposed with two modifications:
- Time path modification (7 or 10 days)
- Prescreening with alternative method (< 20 L)

D. Contribution of the project in a context of scientific support to transfer of knowledge and innovation

This research project for implementation of the essential requirement “Hygiene, health and the environment” of the Construction Products Directive has besides its informative and sensitizing role also performed a supporting role in the development of new innovative low emission construction products.
The research project has also ensured a Belgian input in the validation work of the draft standard "Emissions into indoor air" - WI 351009 - Construction products - Assessment of emissions of regulated dangerous substances from construction products - Determination of emissions into indoor air” in development in working group 2 of CEN/TC 351.
Furthermore this research project has lead to the development of new innovative test methods tailored to the specific needs of construction products.