Consider the regulations and quality when choosing a cable (Onninen uudised)
The Construction Products Regulation ( CPR) – a set of rules issued in the European Union laying down the harmonized rules for the marketing of construction products in the European Union – is an important starting point for choosing construction products, including cables. The regulation applies to all construction products for incorporation in a permanent manner in buildings and general construction. One of the aims of the regulation is to regulate the way construction products react to fire, and the use of dangerous substances. For cables, the legislation concerns all power cables, installation cables, control cables as well as telecommunication and data communication cables.
It is important to consider that according to the requirements and standards that apply to the product's main characteristics, each European Union member state can have different ways and levels of requirements – the renewed materials of the Draka and Prysmian brand of cables manufactured by Prysmian Group Baltics are made according to the requirements of Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian home markets.
Cable marking
The Construction Products Regulation includes seven protection classes from A to F, where A stands for a non-flammable product, and F stands for a product with unspecified fire reaction characteristics. Cables are mainly classified under B, C, D, and E. Additional criteria lay down the requirements for the amount of smoke emitted (values s1, s2, s3), burning droplets during combustion (values d1, d2, d3), and the acidity and electrolytic conductivity of the smoke emitted (values a1, a2, a3), where the higher the value, the poorer the result. The CE-marking affixed to the product shows that the product meets the requirements of all applicable directives.
Help with choosing a cable
Different information materials can help you choose the right cable – the home page of Prysmian Group Baltics has the manufacturer’s materials as well as instructions by the Europacable association on how to check for the requirements of the construction products regulation in the cable label and declaration of performance. To help you better make an informed choice of cable, Prysmian Group created a free application called CableApp for home markets! When choosing the Draka and Prysmian brand of cables you can be sure that they meet the requirements of the regulation, the product sheet has CPR-markings, and the CPR products’ declarations of performance can be found with the DoP Finder.
The article was published in the magazine Onninen uudistes. See more baltics.prysmian.com/en/construction-products-regulation.