As is known, the CE marking is a marking system attached to the products in order to demonstrate that the products covered by the New Approach Directives issued by the European Union in 1985 meet the requirements of these directives. The CE marking of the products is the responsibility of the product manufacturer or its authorized representative or the notified body for multi-risk products. In this context, some of the building materials are also covered by the CE marking system, and within this framework, companies producing building materials can put the CE marking on their products at their own discretion for risk-free products, or put the CE marking on their products after the conformity assessment made by the notified body for the risky products.
However, construction materials not covered by the CE marking system are also produced. The G mark is an obligatory mark to be used when placing these construction materials on the market. The G mark is used by attaching it directly to the building material or to a label attached to the material, or by attaching the material to the packaging or to the commercial documentation of the material.
What Does Legal Regulations Bring?
By the Ministry of Public Works and Settlement, the Regulation on the Criteria for Construction Materials was published in 2009. The purpose of this regulation is to:
- To determine the properties of the construction materials that are allowed to be placed on the market by affixing the G mark.
- To determine the criteria that are required to determine whether the building materials that are placed on the market according to the national and European Union regulations are suitable for their intended use in buildings.
The scope of this regulation is determined as follows:
- Rules and regulations required to determine whether the products that are put on the market for permanent use in building and other construction works are suitable for their intended use.
- Rules and regulations on the conditions of placing products on the market without the obligation to affix the CE marking
The Regulation on the Criteria for Construction Materials was issued based on the Law on the Preparation and Implementation of Technical Legislation on Products. This law sets out the principles for placing products on the market, conformity assessment, market surveillance and notifications regarding these activities.
According to the provisions of the Regulation, the materials affixed with the G mark are considered safe products and are allowed to be placed on the market. If there is no G mark on the building material, this creates a suspicion of insecurity. If a building material is not placed on the market for permanent use in construction work, the relevant information must be clearly attached to the product.
In the Regulation, construction materials subject to G mark are defined as follows:
- Permanently used products for building and other construction works
- Products not subject to CE marking
Hundreds of building materials are included in this description. Of these, the most notable are ready-mixed concrete, rebar and concrete steel bars.
What are TS EN 206-1 and TS 13515 Standards?
TS EN 206 Concrete - Part 1: Feature, Performance, Manufacturing and Compliance Standard is a standard to be applied in regions with different climatic and geographical conditions, different levels of protection and under the influence of different local experiences. The concrete classes described in the standard are designed to cover these different conditions.
TS EN 206 standard covers on-site cast or prefabricated constructions and concrete used in structural elements of buildings. The concrete can be prepared concrete on site or ready-mixed concrete. The standard includes constituent materials of concrete, fresh and hardened concrete properties and their validation, limitations for concrete composition ratios, concrete properties, conditions for delivery of fresh concrete, manufacturing control procedures, as well as conformity criteria and conformity assessment principles.
The TS 13515 standard is a complementary standard for the implementation of the TS EN 206 standard. Therefore, the TS EN 206 standard is only used in conjunction with the TS 13515 standard.
How to Apply the G Mark?
Described above The building materials, which are subject to the Regulation on the Criteria for Construction Materials (G mark regulation for short), are kept under market surveillance and supervision by the Ministry of Public Works and Settlement since July of the mandatory effective date of 2010. For this reason, it is not possible for the construction materials to be placed on the market without the G-mark. Otherwise, the producer companies are first warned by the Ministry and a time is given for obtaining the certificate. If the certificate is not received within the period, both the company will be fined and the product will be discontinued.
Today it is not possible to put concrete on the market without the G mark. In this respect, the only mandatory document in concrete has been G Certificate of Conformity. Concrete is subject to G Certificate of Conformity within the scope of TS EN 206-1 standard.
The tenth article of this regulation entitled G-sign describes the application. Accordingly, it is necessary to confirm the conformity of the building materials to be placed on the market by placing the G mark on the conformity confirmation system provided for by the European Union Commission decisions and put it on the market.
In order to achieve this, the manufacturer must keep the following documents given in the annex of the regulation:
- G Mark (the format of the mark is given in Annex 1 (A)).
- G Declaration of Conformity (issues covered by the document are described in Annex 1 (B)).
- G Declaration of Conformity (matters to be included in the declaration are described in Annex 1 (C)).
For the affixing of the G mark to the products, the provisions of the Regulation on the Attachment and Use of the CE Conformity Mark to the Product shall apply.
The G mark is attached to the products as follows:
- On the building material
- Label on building material
- Packaging of building materials
- Commercial documentation of building material
In addition to the G mark, the performance values that describe the properties of the building material depending on the technical specifications of the product are also attached together.
If the conformity verification system to which construction materials are subject is not foreseen by the European Union Commission decisions, then the existing national standards shall prevail.
In Annex-1 (D) of the Regulation, conformity control methods are explained. These methods are as follows:
- Initial type test of building material
- Testing the samples obtained at the factory in accordance with the previously determined test program
- Inspection by the samples obtained at the factory, market or construction site
- Testing samples selected from a ready-to-deliver or delivered product group
- Factory production control
- Initial inspection of the factory and factory production control to be carried out by the conformity assessment body
- Continuously monitoring, evaluating and inspecting the factory production control by the conformity assessment body
Benefits of Using G Mark for Manufacturer
As with the CE marking system, companies producing building materials in the G marking system benefit from this. Namely,
- There is no sanction in the introduction of building materials to the domestic market
- Compliance of building materials with international standards and basic requirements in terms of safety and health is ensured
- Makes building materials more reliable for the user
- This reduces the number of damages and liability cases that can be faced
- Production costs fall, firm productivity increases
- The company's competitiveness increases, its market share grows
- It is easier for the company to obtain official authorization and authorization documents
our organization TÜRCERT Technical Control and Certification Inc.Is ready to assist with any doubts in the application of the G mark conformity certificate and declaration of conformity.