CE is the French abbreviation for Communauté Européenne and simply means "European Community". The CE label for a construction product is not awarded by the supervisory authorities, but instead applied to a product by the manufacturer under their own responsibility. It shows the supervisory authorities, that the manufacturer declares to comply with the minimum requirements of the harmonized EU guidelines and statutory requirements applicable to a commercial product. The product is thus fit for use according to European requirements and suitable for european trade.

As of February 01, 2009, all businesses which distribute windows and exterior doors in the european union must apply this CE label to their products. Not doing this results in substantial fines and purchase contracts may even be invalid. The window supplier in a dispute is at the mercy of the complaining party and the competition if it has not conformed to european compliance procedures for its products.

Ultimately decisive for the CE label is the conformity system 3 of the CPD Annex III together with the harmonized European product standard: EN 14351-1 Windows and external pedestrian doorsets without resistance to fire and / or smoke leakage characteristics. This standard defines material independent properties of essential requirements and refers to other rules, calculation methods and test standards.

The performance characteristics essential for trade must be approved by a certified testing laboratory (e.g. IFT). These window systems must be divided into product families in advance and their system descriptions formulated. Representative specimens can then be produced in consultation with the certified laboratory. These are then tested to see that they fulfill the minimum mandated characteristics for complete window systems. These features must be provided with the CE label information. Additionally, non-mandated properties are reported in case of need.

There are alternative models for the initial assessment (for example: cascading ITT) in order to minimize the effort and cost. Cascading ITT (hierarchically graded initial assessment) is understood as "system house testing". A professional association or a free provider can have window systems checked with a notified laboratory and acts as a system integrator. A window manufacturer can appropriate the test results in a written contract for their own personal use, provided there are no major deviations in their window and door systems.

The factory production control (FPC) defines its own monitoring of production by the manufacturer. The quality of the windows and doors produced should achieve the determined standards and performance characteristics on a permanent basis. The production process will be more transparent and permanently documented through documented inspections and quality checks at various points within the manufacturing. Deficiencies, errors and deficits in the course of the manufacturing process will be revealed. All documents will be summarized in a FPC manual. In addition, a main supervisor, a main FPC officer and other FPC Officers must be determined for specified areas of responsibility by the company.

In addition to the CE label, the manufacturer must draw up a declaration of performance defined in accordance with the standard. This was formerly called a declaration of conformity and is a current enhancement to the CE label.

Siebert Engineering is a specialist for CE labels. We can advise you when it comes to initial type testing, cascading ITT and FPC. Get a quote from us.