More than 30% of building materials failing to meet standards?

2010-03-15

As many as one third of all construction materials currently on the market may fall short of the parameters declared by their producers. Stowarzyszenie Federacja Konsumentow (Association Federation of Consumers), Zwiazek Pracodawcow-Producentow Materialow dla Budownictwa - ZPPMB (Union of Employers-Manufacturers of Building Materials), and Instytut Techniki Budowlanej (Institute of Construction Technology) intend to carry out an inspection of the performance characteristics of selected products.
According to the agreement signed by the above organisations, the inspection will be financed by the ZPPMB and the task of carrying it out will be assigned to a specialist research institute. The research results are to be made public and the goal of the initiative is to remove from the market all construction materials in violation of current standards. Officially, manufacturers and importers of building materials operating on the market cleared up all quality issues affecting their products back in 2004 and introduced the appropriate certificates. In practice, however, these formal requirements are not being met and declarations about the quality of materials are often falsified, according to ZPPMB. This is both dangerous for customers and has a negative impact on competition on the market, as materials that fail to meet industry standards are usually much cheaper. The inspection will cover products from various producers, including member firms of the ZPPMB.