The Use of Conformity Assessment of Construction Products by the European Union and National Governments: Legitimacy, Effectiveness and the Functioning of the Union Market

Conformity assessment is the process of demonstrating whether specified requirements relating to a product, process, service, system, person or body have been fulfilled. In the European Union and in national states, the advancement of conformity assessment means a shift in the locus of the activity of ‘regulating’ from the European Union and the state to other locations. The outsourcing of regulation to standardisation and certification bodies poses serious questions to the social and market legitimacy and the effectiveness of this type of regulation. Relevant interests can be excluded from access to the standard-setting process. Competitive pressures could reduce costs but also the quality of conformity assessment. Moreover, this chapter discusses the relationship of certification with the EU construction products regulation, EU competition law and free movement of goods and its relation with the quality of construction works