EU CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS

There is more than one Classification System
There are already a number of different classification systems for the fire performance of construction products that are described in the various parts of EN 13501 'Fire classification of construction products and building elements'. There may be additions in the future for particular applications. The following summary lists the current systems :

Part 1 - 'Classification using test data from reaction to fire tests' for the fire performance of products in the early stages of a fire.

Part 2 - 'Classification using data from fire resistance tests' for systems in the fully developed stages of a fire.

Part 3 - 'Classification using data from fire resistance tests on components of normal building services installations'

Part 4 - 'Classification using data from fire resistance tests on smoke control systems'

Part 5 - 'Classification using data from external fire exposure to roof tests', from burning debris carried in the air and deposited on a roof.

There may also be classification systems, in the future, which use larger 'full scale tests' alone, under agreed fire exposure conditions.

Where can I find out more?

European Standard EN 13501 is common to all EU Member States. It is presented as BS EN 13501 in the UK, as DIN EN 13501 in Germany etc., to include the prefix of the national standards' body responsible for publication.

Not all Parts of BS EN 13501 are published as yet.

Each classification system document describes the specific fire tests that need to be carried out, and the performance limits that must be attained. Each document also states how the classification is to be presented on the CE Mark label.

NB. It should be recognised that fire tests provide comparative data for the differentiation of products and systems. This data is not necessarily descriptive of what will happen, or how quickly or slowly, in a real fire. However, the harmonised European fire tests and resulting classification systems have been developed with the specific aim of being a useful representation of the way a product is used in a building and what might happen to it in a real fire.