The standards governing the window industry continue to tighten, in part to bring us into line with mainland Europe. As they do it’s more important than ever that suppliers do their bit to get up to speed with the changes that are being made, so they can offer customers the support they need. Most fabricators and sealed unit manufacturers have enough on their plate at the moment, without having to negotiate their way around the revisions to relevant legislation.

On July 1st 2013 CE marking will become mandatory under the European Construction Products Directive. To achieve CE marking all companies making and selling window and glass products will have to ensure their products comply with relevant standards such as EN1279, EN12150, EN12600 and EN14351. It is unlikely that there will be any ‘simple’ method of compliance and companies that do not follow the CPD may have to stop trading until they gain the relevant documentation or face fines or even imprisonment. For an industry that seemed to struggle so much with window energy ratings this could be a major train wreck.

Suppliers to fabricators and sealed unit manufacturers should be taking all of this into consideration and helping companies as much as possible with their compliance, but should also keep them up to date with the latest changes. As part of Edgetech’s vast customer support programme we offer technical support to all of our customers that are submitting their units for testing to EN1279. We tell them what to expect and how the process will work, as well as give them practical help throughout. This makes the whole process a lot less daunting for companies that don’t find it that easy to navigate their way through the necessary legislation and routes to compliance. We are keeping a close eye on developments in the CE Marking arena and keeping our customers informed. Is your supplier doing the same?