In general terms, the CE marking of a product (European product conformity) and in this particular case the CE marking of rack clad buildings, proves that your product had been assessed and meets EU safety, health and environmental protection requirements, according to the European Directive 93/68/EEC.
Additionally, the CE marking means a technical harmonization, removing technical barriers between countries, and permitting the free circulation of goods within the territory of the European Economic Area (EEA), where all EU (European Union) members are included plus Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway.
But not all products have to be certified with CE marking. Only those products required by the European Union, that are specified in the corresponding directive or European regulation. This CE marking requirement can be applicable on both industrial products and final consumer goods.
After this brief introduction, what we intend to clarify with this report is whether CE marking is applicable to steel racking storage systems and under what terms.
For that purpose, we must resort to the European regulation 305/2011/UE (Construction Product Regulation, or CPR) in force since 1st of July of 2013, that lays down harmonized conditions for the marketing of construction products regarding the design and execution of the construction works, so that health and safety of people and goods are not compromised.
It also indicates that those works must count on CE marking. This regulation defines in its paragraph 2.1 that a construction product is any product which is produced for incorporation in a permanent manner in construction works, including both buildings and civil engineering works.
It has to be said that European regulations are directly applicable legal rules, which means that they are mandatory and do not require a transposition into a national legal rule of each state.
Of all the different storage systems and racking solutions available in the market, the one that is affected by this regulation 305/2011 and should count with CE marking, are the rack clad warehouses or buildings, precisely for its permanent nature.
The rest of storage systems, non self-supported racking systems, like conventional adjustable pallet racking or any other in-house storage solution, are not affected by above indicated regulation and therefore are not requested to be provided with CE marking.
Rack clad warehouses are buildings of big size on which the racking is both the storage system and the permanent supporting structure of the building, providing fixing support to side cladding and roof panels. They are not housed inside an independent construction, but they are the building itself.
Those clad rack buildings apart of being designed for storing the load units, have to be adequately calculated for supporting forces produced by the handling equipment (like stacker cranes or shuttles).
Additionally, since these kind of storage systems are not inside another building (as it is the case with conventional adjustable pallet racking), clad rack warehouses have to support wind and snow loads of the geographic place in which the warehouse is located.
For the developer of the project and depending on dimensions, loads, location and product turnover, clad rack building can be a very interesting storage solution considering that an independent building is not required to house the racking.
From a legislative point of view, the entry into force of the European regulation 305/2011/UE on July 1st of 2013, means that clad rack building storage Systems designed and delivered from that date on in the European Union are requested to be marked with the CE marking. All the rest of storage systems and racking solutions are excluded from that obligation.
To close the circle and from the standpoint of the technical norms, the European directive 89/106 from the year 1988 (abolished and substituted by the regulation 305/2011 mentioned above and currently in force) issued the mandate M 120 “Structural metallic products and ancillaries” for the elaboration of the series of norms EN 1090 “Execution of steel structures and aluminum structures”.
These norms are about the requirements for the conformity assessment of structural components considering different aspects like quality of materials, mechanical resistance, fire resistance, and the absence of emission of hazardous substances.
Noega Systems disposes since June 3rd of 2014, and in compliance with the requirements of the regulation 305/2011/UE from the European Parliament, of the certificate for the CE marking according to the norm EN 1090-1:2009 / A1 2011 “Execution of steel structures and aluminum structures. Requirements for conformity assessment of structural components”.
The certificate of conformity Nr. 0038/CPR/MAD/20140046/A was issued in favor of Noega Systems after having successfully passed the demanding audits of the certifying entity (Lloyd’s Register) for the design and manufacture of clad rack buildings.
Noega Systems counts on an excellent team of technicians, engineers, and designers with extensive experience in these type of self-supporting storage solutions, with demonstrated capacity in the application of existing legislation and applicable norms and standards, adapting the design to the customer’s needs and always seeking for the best technical and economical solution.
Another key aspect is added on top of all that, which is the management and execution of the assembly works that can take several months depending on size and dimensions of the project. In that sense, Noega Systems puts at our customer’s disposal a very experienced team of assembly supervisors, who will take care of the installation works until completion.
With the obtaining of the certificate of CE marking of clad rack buildings according to the standard EN 1090, Noega Systems continues to be at the forefront of technology and service, offering total guarantees to our customers on executed clad rack buildings, and strictly complying with all legal requirements.
