CEPROCON.COM  •  BLOG ARTICLE  •  WEEK 13

Why the CPR plays by different rules than the other CE marking regimes

Most manufacturers meet CE marking for the first time through the Construction Products Regulation (CPR). But many also make products that straddle other regulatory regimes — a garage door operator that needs both the CPR and the Machinery Directive, a fire door with electronic locking hardware, or an insulated panel with an integrated electrical heating element. The moment a second CE marking regime enters the picture, a natural assumption kicks in: “it’s CE marking, so the logic must be the same.” It isn’t — and the differences are not cosmetic.

This article sets out exactly what makes the CPR structurally different from the Machinery Directive, the Low Voltage Directive, EMC, the PPE Regulation and the rest of the CE marking family — and why understanding that difference matters if your product touches more than one regime.

Most CE marking law follows one common blueprint — the CPR doesn’t

The majority of EU product legislation carrying a CE mark — Machinery, Low Voltage, EMC, PPE, Toys, Radio Equipment, and many others — is built on a shared template known as the New Legislative Framework (NLF), formalised in Decision 768/2008/EC. Products under these regimes must satisfy a fixed set of “essential health and safety requirements” written into the legislation itself. Harmonised standards under the NLF give manufacturers a “presumption of conformity”: build to the standard, and you are presumed to have met the legal safety requirement.

The CPR was deliberately built differently, and this is the single most important thing to understand when comparing it to any other CE marking regime. The CPR sets out no minimum performance thresholds at all. It does not say a fire door must resist fire for a minimum number of minutes, or that insulation must achieve a minimum thermal value. Instead, it requires the manufacturer to measure performance against defined essential characteristics and declare it honestly and verifiably. Whether that declared performance is “good enough” is left to national building regulations, specifiers, and the market — not to the CPR itself.

This is why CPR harmonised standards (hENs) function differently from NLF harmonised standards. An hEN under the CPR doesn’t grant a presumption of meeting a safety threshold — there is no threshold to meet. Its role is to define what must be tested, how, and how the result must be expressed, and its existence is what makes CE marking of that product mandatory in the first place.

What the CE mark actually certifies is different

Under an NLF regime like the Machinery Directive, affixing the CE mark is a manufacturer’s declaration that the product meets the essential safety requirements set out in that directive. It is, in that sense, a safety statement.

Under the CPR, the CE mark means something narrower and more procedural: that the manufacturer has drawn up a Declaration of Performance (DoP) in accordance with the Regulation, and that the values stated on the CE marking label match the values declared in that DoP. It says nothing about whether those values are adequate for a given building or application — that judgement belongs to the specifier or the national building code. This is a genuinely different legal instrument from a Declaration of Conformity (DoC) used under NLF regimes, and the two should never be treated as interchangeable paperwork.

Conformity assessment: AVCP systems vs. Modules A–H

NLF regimes assess conformity using a standard toolbox of conformity assessment modules (Modules A through H, plus combinations), covering everything from manufacturer self-declaration through to full quality assurance system certification. These modules are largely interchangeable in structure across different NLF directives, which is part of the point of the framework.

The CPR uses its own separate system: Assessment and Verification of Constancy of Performance (AVCP), Systems 1+, 1, 2+, 3 and 4. AVCP systems are not a relabelled version of Modules A–H — they were designed specifically around the CPR’s performance-declaration model, and the system that applies is fixed by Annex ZA of the relevant harmonised standard rather than chosen by the manufacturer. A product that also falls under an NLF regime will typically go through two entirely separate conformity assessment procedures, often via two different notified bodies notified under two different pieces of legislation — even if, in practice, the same accredited laboratory carries out both.

Notified Bodies aren’t interchangeable between regimes

A body that is notified under the CPR is notified for the CPR specifically — its NANDO listing will show CPR (Regulation 305/2011) as the legislation and a defined scope of harmonised standards within it. That same organisation may separately hold a notification under the Machinery Directive or the Low Voltage Directive, but that is a second, independent listing with its own scope. Always check NANDO for the specific regulation you need, not just the organisation’s name — a well-known testing house being “notified” is not enough; it has to be notified for your product under your regulation.

When a product genuinely needs two CE marking regimes

Dual-regime products are common in construction, and getting the split right matters. Some typical examples:

• Powered garage doors, gates and shutters — CPR for the door leaf as a construction product, Machinery Directive for the power operator and its safety functions
• Electrically heated floor or wall panels — CPR for the construction performance characteristics, Low Voltage Directive and EMC for the electrical components
• Fire doors with electronic access control or automatic closing hardware — CPR for the door set’s fire performance, potentially Machinery and/or Radio Equipment Directive for powered or connected hardware
• Prefabricated kits incorporating electrical or mechanical subsystems — the kit itself may fall under the CPR while individual electrical or mechanical components carry their own separate CE marking under NLF regimes

In each of these cases, the product typically needs two separate technical files, two separate sets of essential characteristics or requirements, and — where the CPR route requires AVCP involving a Notified Body — potentially two entirely separate notified body engagements. Trying to fold everything into a single “CE marking project” without clearly scoping which regime governs which part of the product is one of the most common causes of delay we see at the technical file stage.

A quick side-by-side

Aspect	Typical NLF regime (Machinery, LVD, EMC, PPE…)	CPR
What is required	Meet fixed essential health & safety requirements	Assess and declare performance — no fixed minimum
Role of harmonised standards	Presumption of conformity to the legal requirement	Defines what to test and how to declare it; triggers mandatory CE marking
Core document	Declaration of Conformity (DoC)	Declaration of Performance (DoP)
Conformity assessment toolkit	Modules A–H (Decision 768/2008)	AVCP Systems 1+, 1, 2+, 3, 4
What CE marking means	“Meets the legal safety requirements”	“Performance has been assessed and is declared as stated”

Summary

The CPR shares the CE mark with a dozen other EU regulatory regimes, but it does not share their logic. There is no fixed safety threshold to meet, the core document is a Declaration of Performance rather than a Declaration of Conformity, conformity assessment runs through AVCP systems rather than Modules A–H, and Notified Body notifications are regime-specific. For manufacturers whose products only ever touch the CPR, this distinction may never come up in practice — but for anyone building products that combine construction performance with mechanical, electrical, or electronic functions, understanding exactly where the CPR ends and another regime begins is essential to getting the technical file, the declarations, and the Notified Body engagements right the first time.

Not sure which CE marking regimes apply to your product?

CEProCon helps manufacturers scope multi-regime CE marking projects correctly from the outset — identifying which regulation governs which part of the product, which technical files and declarations are needed, and which Notified Bodies must be engaged under which legislation. This topic is also covered in depth in our professional training programme for anyone building a career as a CE marking specialist.

contact@ceprocon.com  •  ceprocon.com