Decision 2003/43

Contents

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,Having regard to Council Directive 89/106/EEC of 21 December 1988, on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to construction products^note, as amended by Directive 93/68/EEC^note, and in particular Article 20(2) thereof,Whereas:

(1)Directive 89/106/EEC envisages that in order to take account of the different levels of protection for construction works at national, regional or local level, it may be necessary to establish in the interpretative documents classes corresponding to the performance of products in respect of each essential requirement. Those documents have been published as the‘Communication of the Commission with regard to the interpretative documents of Council Directive 89/106/EEC ^note.

(2)With respect to the essential requirement of safety in the event of fire, interpretative document No 2 lists a number of interrelated measures which together define the fire safety strategy to be variously developed in the Member States.

(3)Interpretative document No 2 identifies one of those measures as the limitation of the generation and spread of fire and smoke within a given area by limiting the potential of construction products to contribute to the full development of a fire.

(4)The level of that limitation may be expressed only in terms of the different levels of reaction-to-fire performance of the products in their end-use application.

(5)By way of a harmonised solution, a system of classes was adopted in Commission Decision 2000/147/EC of 8 February 2000 implementing Council Directive 89/106/EEC as regards the classification of the reaction-to-fire performance of construction products^note.

(6)In the case of certain wood-based panels, it is necessary to use the classification established in Decision 2000/147/EC.

(7)The reaction-to-fire performance of many construction products and/or materials, within the classification provided for in Decision 2000/147/EC, is well established and sufficiently well known to fire regulators in Member States that they do not require testing for this particular performance characteristic.

(8)The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Construction,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1 #

The construction products and/or materials which satisfy all the requirements of the performance characteristic ‘reaction-to-fire’ without need for further testing are set out in the Annex.

Article 2 #

The specific classes to be applied to different construction products and/or materials, within the reaction-to-fire classification adopted in Decision 2000/147/EC, are set out in the Annex to this Decision.

Article 3 #

Products shall be considered in relation to their end-use application, where relevant.

Article 4 #

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

The tables set out in this annex list construction products and/or materials which satisfy all the requirements for the performance characteristic reaction to fire without need for testing.

Table 1
Product	EN product standard	End use condition^note	Minimum density(kg/m³)	Minimum thickness(mm)	Class^note(excluding floorings)	Class^note(floorings)
Cement-bonded particleboard^note	EN 634-2	without an air gap behind the panel	1000	10	B-s1, d0	B_fl-s1
Fibreboard, hard^note	EN 622-2	without an air gap behind the wood-based panel	900	6	D-s2, d0	D_fl-s1
Fibreboard, hard^note	EN 622-2	with a closed air gap not more than 22 mm behind the wood-based panel	900	6	D-s2, d2	—
Particleboard^note,^note,^note	EN 312	without an air gap behind the wood-based panel	600	9	D-s2, d0	D_fl-s1
Fibreboard, hard and medium^note,^note,^note	EN 622-2EN 622-3
MDF^note,^note,^note	EN 622-5
MDF^note,^note,^note	EN 300
Plywood^note,^note,^note	EN 636	-“-	400	9	D-s2, d0	D_fl-s1
Solid wood panel^note,^note,^note	EN 13353	12
Flaxboard^note,^note,^note	EN 15197	-“-	450	15	D-s2, d0	D_fl-s1
Particleboard^note,^note	EN 312	with a closed or an open air gap not more than 22 mm behind the wood-based panel	600	9	D-s2, d2	—
Fibreboard, hard and medium^note,^note	EN 622-2EN 622-3
MDF^note,^note	EN 622-5
OSB^note,^note	EN 300
Plywood^note,^note	EN 636	-“-	400	9	D-s2, d2	—
Solid wood panel^note,^note	EN 13353	12
Particleboard^note,^note	EN 312	with a closed air gap behind the wood-based panel	600	15	D-s2, d0	D_fl-s1
Fibreboard, medium^note,^note	EN 622-3
MDF^note,^note	EN 622-5
OSB^note,^note	EN 300
Plywood^note,^note	EN 636	-“-	400	15	D-s2, d1	D_fl-s1
Solid wood panel^note,^note	EN 13353	D-s2, d0
Flaxboard^note,^note	EN 15197	-“-	450	15	D-s2, d0	D_fl-s1
Particleboard^note,^note	EN 312	with an open air gap behind the wood-based panel	600	18	D-s2, d0	D_fl-s1
Fibreboard, medium^note,^note	EN 622-3
MDF^note,^note	EN 622-5
OSB^note,^note	EN 300
Plywood^note,^note	EN 636	-“-	400	18	D-s2, d0	D_fl-s1
Solid wood panel^note,^note	EN 13353
Flaxboard^note,^note	EN 15197	-“-	450	18	D-s2, d0	D_fl-s1
Particleboard^note	EN 312	any	600	3	E	E_fl
OSB^note	EN 300
MDF^note	EN 622-5	-“-	400	3	E	E_fl
250	9	E	E_fl
Plywood^note	EN 636	-“-	400	3	E	E_fl
Fibreboard, hard^note	EN 622-2	-“-	900	3	E	E_fl
Fibreboard, medium^note	EN 622-3	-“-	400	9	E	E_fl
Fibreboard, soft	EN 622-4	-“-	250	9	E	E_fl

Table 2
Gypsum plasterboard	Nominal board thickness (mm)	Gypsum core	Paper grammage^note(g/m²)	Substrate	Class^note (excluding floorings)
Density (kg/m³)	Reaction to fire class
Conforming to EN 520 (except perforated boards)	≥ 6,5 < 9,5	≥ 800	A1	≤ 220	Any wood-based product with density ≥ 400 kg/m³ or any product of at least class A2-s1, d0	A2-s1, d0
> 220 ≤ 320	B-s1, d0
≥ 9,5	≥ 600	≤ 220	Any wood-based product with density ≥ 400 kg/m³ or any product of at least class A2-s1, d0 or any insulating product of at least class E-d2 mounted according to method 1	A2-s1, d0
> 220 ≤ 320	B-s1, d0

Note:Mounting and fixingThe gypsum plasterboards (hereinafter — ‘gypsum boards’) shall be mounted and fixed using one of the three following methods:

Method 1 — Mechanically fixed to a supporting substructureThe gypsum boards, or (in the case of multi-layer systems) at least the outermost layer of boards, shall be mechanically fixed to a metal substructure (made from components detailed in EN 14195) or to a timber substructure (in accordance with EN 336 and EN 1995-1-1).When the substructure provides supporting members in one direction only, the maximum span between the supporting members shall not exceed a dimension equal to 50 times the thickness of the gypsum boards.When the substructure includes supporting members in two directions the maximum span in either direction shall not exceed a dimension equal to 100 times the thickness of the gypsum boards.The mechanical fixings shall be screws, staples or nails, which shall be fixed through the thickness of the gypsum boards into the substructure at centres not exceeding 300 mm measured along the length of each supporting member.Behind the gypsum boards may be an air space, or an insulating product. The substrate may be:

(a)any wood-based product with density ≥ 400 kg/m³ or any product of at least class A2-s1, d0 in case of gypsum boards of ≥ 6,5 mm and < 9,5 mm nominal thickness and ≥ 800 kg/m³ core density, or

(b)any wood-based product with density ≥ 400 kg/m³ or any product of at least class A2-s1, d0 in case of gypsum boards of ≥ 9,5 mm nominal thickness and ≥ 600 kg/m³ core density, or

(c)any insulating material of at least class E-d2 in case of gypsum boards of ≥ 9,5 mm nominal thickness and ≥ 600 kg/m³ core density.

Each joint between adjoining gypsum boards shall have a gap width ≤ 4 mm. This provision applies for any joint regardless of that the joint is or is not supported directly by a substructure supporting member and regardless of that the joint is or is not filled with a jointing material.In cases (a) and (b) each joint between adjoining gypsum boards, which is not supported directly by a substructure supporting member and which has a gap width > 1 mm, shall be fully filled with a jointing material as specified in EN 13963 (the other joints may remain unfilled).In case (c) all joints between adjoining gypsum boards shall be fully filled with a jointing material as specified in EN 13963.

Method 2 — Mechanically fixed to a solid wood-based substrateThe gypsum boards shall be mechanically fixed to a solid wood-based substrate with density ≥ 400 kg/m³.There shall be no cavity between the gypsum boards and the substrate.The mechanical fixings shall be screws, staples or nails. The distance between the mechanical fixings shall correspond to the rules given above for method 1.Each joint between adjoining gypsum boards shall have a gap width ≤ 4 mm and may remain unfilled.

Method 3 — Mechanically fixed or bonded to a solid substrate (dry lining system)The gypsum boards shall be fixed directly to a solid substrate with a reaction to fire classification of at least class A2-s1, d0.The gypsum boards may be fixed using screws or nails fixed through the thickness of the gypsum boards into the solid substrate or may be bonded to the substrate using ‘dabs’ of a gypsum based adhesive as specified in EN 14496.In either case the screw or nail fixings or the adhesive ‘dabs’ shall be positioned at maximum 600 mm vertical and horizontal centres.All joints between adjoining gypsum boards may remain unfilled.

Table 3
High pressure decorative laminate panels^note	Product detail	Minimum density(kg/m³)	Minimum overall thickness(mm)	Class^note(excluding floorings)
Interior grade non-FR Compact HPL panels^note	Compact HPL meeting EN 438-4 type CGS	1350	6	D-s2, d0
Interior grade non-FR HPL composite panels with wood-based substrates^note	Composite panels comprising non-FR grade HPL meeting the requirements of EN 438-3, adhesively bonded to both sides of non-FR grade wood-based core of minimum thickness 12 mm complying with EN 13986, using PVAc or thermosetting adhesive at an application rate of 60 to 120 g/m²	Wood-based core minimum density 600HPL minimum density 1350	12 mm wood-based core with HPL ≥ 0,5 mm bonded to both sides	D-s2, d0

Table 4
	Product detail	Minimum mean density^note(kg/m³)	Minimum overall thickness(mm)	Class^note(excluding floorings)
Structural timber	Visual and machine graded structural timber with rectangular cross-sections shaped by sawing, planing or other methods or with round cross-sections	350	22	D-s2, d0

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