The certification body at FIW München

Even if there is usually no difference in quality to the naked eye, there can sometimes be major differences depending on the product and the intended use. European standards, which have been harmonised in many areas, merely form a (minimum) consensus at European level when it comes to defining the requirements for construction products. There are moreover still different national building inspection requirements. Manufacturers of high-quality products are forced to take action themselves, for example to define the interfaces between components and ensure consistent quality. Ultimately, a quality seal offers a guarantee for certain quality agreements, for example between ETICS system holders and insulation manufacturers, avoids criticism and costly recalls and creates trust among those involved in the market. The various tasks of the certification body of FIW München are presented below, which in recent years has developed from a certification body that operates in line with the German Landesbauordnung (State Building Code) to a certification body that complies with the European Construction Products Regulation (CPR) or voluntary certification programmes.

Notified Body

In many areas products can only be distributed to the US and to europe if they meet specific (safety) requirements. In simple cases the manufacturer certifies himself, that his product meets the requirements (the conformity with the requirements). Mostly a neutral professional site has to be included: the notified body.

Within the EU, this includes testing bodies (auditation- and certification sites) which become active on governmental order, to support and control the conformity rating of producers of different industrial products of a different kind. The main task is to carry out conformity assessment of products, if this is provided for the relevant product according to EU directives. This minimises the risk for the users of the tested products.

If a european regulatory basis for building products doesn't exist but the products need to meet additional national requirements to be used safely, there are supervising and certification bodies acting as a impartial third parties according to the state building codes - so called PÜZ-Stellen. The recognition as PÜZ-Stelle is granted by the Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik (DIBt).

According to EN ISO/IEC 17025 the FIW München is recognized nationwide (PÜZ Stelle) and within Europe (Notified Body) as a testing laboratory. As first notificated site (NB 0751) the FIW München is acknowledged for insulation materials from extruder foamed polystyrol or foamglas as load-barring coat and/or termal insulation beyond the sealing.

You can find the registration of the FIW München in the directory of notificated sites of the european commission (NANDO-list).

CE-label

With the CE-marking the producer, distributor or EU- authorized representative explains according to EU-regulation 765/2008, "the product meets its valid requirements which are set over their attachement in the harmonization legislation of the community".

Therefore the CE-marking is not a quality seal but a marking which is applied by the distributor at its own discretion. With this he points out, that he has created a declaration of performance and he is willing to take responsibility. This doesn't state out if or if necessary, how frequently the building product is tested by an independet site .

While the CE-marking primary shows off the compliance of governmental minimum standard, voluntary certification programms offer an added value to the consumer: the tested and certificated compliance of unified european standards of quality. On the market several programms and certification markings have been established. The FIW is authorized to award the following markings:

KEYMARK

FIW München introduced itself for the voluntary certification system (CEN KEYMARK) at the "Lambda Expert Group" to improve the measurement accuracy of the registred facilities and to further develope the certification programm. 

ÜGPU Qualitätszeichen

The voluntary certification programm fullfills the requirements for a typ 5 product certification according to DIN EN ISO/IEC 17067. It is understood as product certification, with which all certificated attributes of every kind of product are tested. A special feature of the ÜGPU-brand is, beside the certificate, that it certifies the compliance of all essential attributes. This certificate of application shows the user, that at the same time all minimum requirements can be fulfilled after DIN 4108-10 and additionally he can use the insulation material according to the applications mentioned in DIN 4108-10.

FIW München developes certification programs for building licences, which base on ETAs, on their own. These voluntary certification programms reduce the liability risk of the planners and increase the trust of the clients in the applicability of the insulation material. With such a program different european and building authorities can be brought together and different detection methods can be bundled on a common niveau. Furthermore, with these certificates the compliance of the individual requirements for the respective application can be proved.