ATE/ ETA/ ETE/ EAD Certification/ CE Marking

Any CE-marked construction product obtained with approval via the ETE must comply with current sizing standards.

The ETAG (European Technical Approval Guidelines) were elaborated within the scope of the Construction Products Directive by the EOTA and are the way for construction products not covered (totally or partially) by a harmonized European Standard to have the CE marking. For this, products in these circumstances should first be subject to a European Technical Approval (ETE - Evaluation Technique Europeénne) issued for a given product, produced by a given manufacturer. With the entry into force of the Construction Products Regulation (which replaced the previous Directive), ETAG are currently undergoing transformation and will give rise to European Assessment Documents (EAD – European Assessment Documents); however, the premises for obtaining the CE marking referred to above remain, and now the ETEs are designated as European Technical Evaluations (ETE – Evaluation Technique Europeénne). STPs are, however, voluntary in nature, in the sense that a manufacturer of a construction product not covered (totally or partially) by a harmonized European Standard is not obliged to follow this route.

In these cases, the product must be evaluated in order to demonstrate satisfaction by a certified body (FM Approvals, EOTA, CSTB, Socotec, Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik), case by case, the relevant national provisions in force, taking into account its intended use. Thus, in Portugal, for these cases and in accordance with the provisions of article 17 of the General Regulation for Urban Buildings (with the new wording given by Decree-Law no. 50/2008), the products covered by ETAG 001 either have an ETE and the corresponding CE marking or, alternatively, have an Approval Document issued by LNEC.