what is a declaration of performance?
TRANSCRIPT
5 REASONS YOU SHOULD KNOWWhat is a Declaration of Performance?
CONTENTINTRODUCTION: HEADS UP!
IT IS THE LAW
4. IMPORTERS/DISTRIBUTORS
1. EVOLUTION
2. LANGUAGES
TERMINOLOGY
TRANSLATIONS
COMPLIANCE
3. MISSING INFORMATION
5. AVAILABLE ONLINE
4. LET’S RECAP
IMPORTERS
CONTENT
What is a Declaration of Performance?
The European Union is constantly changing and so are the requirements for all manufacturers who are willing to sell inside the free trade area. The Construction Products Regulation (CPR) came fully into effect on 1st of July 2013 and henceforth added another very important document to produce – the Declaration of Performance –, or how most people familiar with it call it – the DoP.
The Declaration of Performance affects all manufacturers whose product portfolio includes products covered by a Harmonised European Standard (hEN) or a European Technical Assessment (ETA). With over 1000 product types falling into this category, this rule applies to the vast majority of manufacturers of construction products who are selling in the EU.*
HEADS UP!
* To see a full list of the construction product
categories covered by the harmonised standards CLICK HERE
IT IS THE LAW
It is important to mention here that the legislative bodies have specifically defined severe punishments for those that dare cut corners on the DoP submission. For non-compliance with the CPR, according to the European law, the penalties vary from fines, suspension and prohibition notices and go all the way to prison sentences for some particularly big violations.
With this in mind it goes without saying that the drawing of your Declarations of Performance is some serious business. If you have been unaware of this obligation, we strongly suggest you to act NOW. If you, however, have been responsible enough to make your own DoPs, here are some major concerns to keep an eye out for…
IT IS THE LAW
1. EVOLUTION
Even if you did your Declarations of Performance, you still have the legal duty to keep track of all changes in the CPR and reflect them accordingly in your Declarations of Performance. The standards are a subject of revision by the European Commission on a regular basis and you are obliged to monitor for any amendments that concern your products’ documentation.
We designed DoPcreator with this in mind. When using the system, you will immediately be notified of any changes in the CPR or the harmonised European standards, allowing you to edit your Declarations of Performance on the spot, hassle-free and simple. You can then distribute the documents to your customers through the system’s built in functionality. It is that easy!
The Construction Products Regulation and Harmonised Standards are always evolving
1. EVOLUTION
2. LANGUAGES“The Declaration of Performance shall be supplied in the language or the languages required by the Member State where the product is made available.”
According to Article 7 of the CPR, you are held fully responsible for accurately translating your Declaration of
Performance to each country’s respective language, prior to placing your products on the market.
When it comes to translations of Declarations of Performance, it is all about terminology and this is exactly where many companies fail.
Terminology & Translations & Compliance
2. LANGUAGES
TERMINOLOGYThe Construction Products Regulation aims at harmonising the regulatory terminology, attempting to improve the communication between economic actors. They are supposed to establish and maintain the so called “common European technical language”- a set of terms built on the basis of the terms used in the European product standards.
This means that the EU expects you to translate your Declarations of Performance in complete accordance with the above mentioned technical terminology.
When it comes to translating the DoP terminology, you have to consider that many of the conventional translation agencies produce translations of a much lower quality.
2. LANGUAGES : Terminology
TRANSLATIONSHowever, you as a customer are often unable to check and quality assure the translated material. Being a native speaker and having an engineering degree are not the only applicable criteria to the translators that work on your DoPs. It’s rather essential that they are experienced in translating European standards terminology. Translating a term means knowing the context of its use within several standards in order to choose the correct translation.
We have developed DoPcreator to provide the most cost-efficient DoP translating service, while saving our clients a great deal of time and effort in hassling with translation agencies that provide absolutely no guarantees of their works’ compliance with the EU technical requirements.
2. LANGUAGES : Translations
COMPLIANCENot keeping track of the correct terminology is in fact a violation of the Construction Products Regulation and can be subject to sanctions and various penalties.
Considering this, we have designed DoPcreator to translate Declarations of Performance instantly and with 100% accuracy. Behind DoPcreator is the heavy work of numerous linguists and technical experts that made this functionality possible. All translations are in full compliance with the EU requirements and the terminology is a product of a continuous research and long quality assurance procedures.
2. LANGUAGES : Compliance
3. MISSING INFORMATION
As we already mentioned, you carry full legal responsibility for what IS or what IS NOT in your Declaration of Performance. As everything else in the world, all DoPs have also not been created equal. This means that you should thoroughly read the technical standards to make sure you declare each of the required performance values. The structure of the DoP should be in full accordance with the model set out in Annex III of the CPR, or more specifically – in the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 574/2014.
Luckily, our technical specification experts have done this for you. The DoPcreator fully covers a wide array of products, carefully guiding you through the process, reminding you of missing fields and minimizing any negative consequences associated with misinterpretation, lack of technical knowledge and other common errors.
3. MISSING INFORMATION
4. DISTRIBUTORS/IMPORTERS
The CPR explicitly determines the legal responsibilities that distributors and importers are a subject to. The Construction Products Regulation gives detailed information about the legal responsibility in the various stages of the supply chain in its Article 13.
Issuing the Declaration of Performance is just one part of your duties. You are required to ensure that the document is delivered to your distributors, who will then send it to various clients who are the end users of your products.
4. DISTRIBUTORS/IMPORTERS
IMPORTERSSame goes for the importers who are held responsible for the products compliance with the CPR requirements and that all other required accompanying documentation is present and has correct content.
The importer must also indicate their name or trademark and address on the product’s packaging and in the Declaration of Performance. In addition, if sample testing of the construction product is required, the importer has the responsibility to carry it out. Such test may be needed in order to check the accuracy of the stated information in the Declaration of Performance.
IMPORTERS
5. AVAILABLE ONLINEWhy make Declarations of Performance if no one will ever read them? Well, not quite… The Construction Products Regulation specifically requires you to have your DoPs published and accessible to everyone who may need seeing it. Make sure you have your documents uploaded and accessible 24/7 if you do not want to risk unpleasant consequences on behalf of the EU regulative bodies.
We at coBuilder have thought about that when designing the DoPcreator. Every time when you create a DoP, you will be given the option to distribute it as a PDF or to make it easily accessible to anyone who might need it via a public download link. Furthermore, it will never be lost or corrupted or in any change altered.
AVAILABLE ONLINE
LET’S RECAPThe Construction Products Regulation has indeed brought us some administrative inconveniences, which can in some cases make our lives more difficult than we would want them to be. This doesn’t mean, however, that we should waste significant resources to work this out in the best possible manner. With the help of the DoPcreator platform, you save massive amounts of time, effort and money while at the same time ensuring a top level quality of your CPR documentation.
LET’S RECAP
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George ZlatevInternational Sales Manager, coBuilder Bulgaria+359 (0) 896 724 155 | [email protected] |www.cobuilder.com | www.dopcreator.com | Skype: zlatev.cobAleksandar Stambolyiski blvd. 55, Sofia 1000, Bulgaria
Adrian TomovInternational Sales Manager, coBuilder International+359 (0) 886 406 006 | [email protected] |www.cobuilder.com | www.dopcreator.com | Skype: tomov.cobAleksandar Stambolyiski blvd. 55, Sofia 1000, Bulgaria