The Department consulted on the European Commission's proposed Construction Products Regulation in August 2008. An impact assessment and a report on the impacts of mandatory CE marking were published alongside the Consultation. The consultation, impact assessment and report can be found at:

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120919132719/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/constructionproductsconsult.pdf

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120919132719/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/iaconstructionproducts.pdf

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20080915101357/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/reviewconstructionproducts.pdf

The summary of responses report and an impact assessment updated to reflect the consultation responses were published in 2009. These documents are available at:

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120919132719/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/constructionproductsresponse.pdf

http://www.ialibrary.bis.gov.uk/uploaded/Impact%20Assessment%20of%20the%20European%20 Commission%E2%80%99s%20proposed%20Construction%20 Products%20Regulation.pdf

Many construction products manufacturers are already CE marking their products and others have well-advanced plans to do so, under the European construction products directive.

The Department publishes guidance on CE marking of construction products in relation to the Building Regulations in the Approved Document in support of Regulation 7 which is available free to download from the Planning Portal,

www.planningportal.gov.uk

We consulted in 2008 on the European Construction Products Regulation which will require CE marking of most construction products from 1 July 2013. We also consulted earlier this year on a revision to update Approved Document 7 to reflect full implementation of the Construction Products Regulation from 1 July 2013. We published the updated edition on 19 December 2012.

We are planning a series of events with industry partners in 2013 to publicise this as well as other changes to the Building Regulations and the Approved Documents alongside guidance industry has been produced to promote understanding of CE marking.

Despite representations to the Israeli authorities from our officials in Israel, figures from the United Nations show that fewer construction materials entered Gaza in August than July via the official crossings (63,640 tonnes compared to 74,760 tonnes). This is despite the 5 August attack by militants in Sinai which led to the Egyptian Government taking measures to close many of the tunnel crossings, leading to a 50% reduction in construction materials coming into Gaza by this means from July to August. This reduction can be explained by the fact that only international projects can import construction materials into Gaza via the official crossings so the private sector cannot make up any shortage in materials by importing through the official crossings as opposed to the tunnels. The UK continues, with others, to press the Israeli Government to ease movement and access restrictions for Gaza.