Application Documents (DA)

Background

The activity of homologation of construction products and systems developed by LNEC has recently undergone a significant change (see: what is a DH?).

The technical harmonization related to construction products developed at the European level has come to be covered by European standards, as homologation was always intended to be applied to innovative products, that is, those that are not covered by official specifications, namely standards.

LNEC thus decided in 2005 to create a new type of technical assessment document for construction products, of a voluntary nature, which it designated as an Application Document (DA), intended in the first phase to complement the evaluations of these products within the scope of affixing the CE marking.

This decision was since CE marking was conceived as a "passport" for the free circulation of construction products in the European Economic Area, thus distinguishing itself from voluntary marks, whose main objective is the valorisation and differentiation of products in the market.

CE marking affixed to construction products does not assign, in many situations, performance levels and classes for the characteristics declared by manufacturers and does not contemplate aspects that are considered important for the good performance of products, such as application techniques on site.

With the development of DA issuance, LNEC extended its scope in 2013 to products covered by Portuguese standards and by non-harmonized European standards, that is, to products not having CE marking, and then to products covered by ETA.

It is noted that the issuance of DAs by LNEC was part of the policy adopted in several European countries, where the homologation institutes in the field of construction also started to issue documents of the same type. It is also noted that, in the same line of quality evidence, European countries with prestigious and widely recognized voluntary certification systems by the technical community have maintained and reinforced their voluntary quality marks for construction products, complementary to their respective CE marking.

Framework

Application Documents are voluntary.

It is emphasized that, in the case of products with mandatory CE marking, LNEC only issues a DA if it verifies that the marking is affixed.

With the issuance of DAs, LNEC considers that it is providing additional guarantees to the various agents in the construction sector in the sense that products covered by standards or other official technical specifications, in relation to which it has an accumulated experience of many years, can present adequate performance on site.

Faced with a request for the issuance of a DA for a given construction product, LNEC analyses whether such issuance proves to be adequate and relevant in that specific case.

Content of a DA

Application Documents include aspects not covered by the technical specifications that apply to them, such as the definition of the field of application and possible limitations of product use, the most significant performance characteristics, the evaluation of complementary characteristics to those covered by CE marking and the consideration of possible national specificities in the case of products covered by that marking, the global assessment with the indication of the predictable useful life, the characteristics (and respective tolerances) to be verified in reception tests on-site, conditions for their correct placement on site and rules for adequate maintenance.

DA with Certification

LNEC issues DAs with Certification to products whose production, in addition to being subject to permanent internal control under the responsibility of the manufacturer, is submitted to external control by LNEC (or an entity recognized by LNEC as competent for that purpose), which includes periodic visits to manufacturing facilities to verify production conditions and procedures adopted in that internal control and collection of samples for testing at LNEC.

Validity 

The validity period of a simple Application Document is normally three years, after which there may be a review and renewal if the manufacturer requests it and the results of the reassessment carried out by LNEC are satisfactory. This reassessment includes the performance of new tests and the verification of manufacturing and application conditions, as well as the reassessment of their fitness for use.

Certified DAs are issued with a validity period of five years and can be renewed if the applicant expresses an interest, following a simplified set of procedures carried out by LNEC

If you would like more information about DAs, please send an email to: lnec@lnec.pt