Roman up to the mark

UK shower manufacturer, Roman, are fully committed to the new legal requirements sweeping through Europe relating to their products.

Roman conforms to the new CE marking standard, which will be compulsory for all construction products as of the 1st July 2013. CE marking validates pan-European standards and regulations that are in place and ensures compliance.

Previously CE marking has been prominent on electrical items, but going forward it will apply to all products used in construction - including bathroom items such as the shower enclosure and shower tray. Importantly for developers, even showering surrounds supplied by glass contractors must also conform to the CE mark.

Roman design and manufacture their range of products in the UK, so began testing their products to ensure that they conform to every detail of the CE mark, at the end of 2012. Their range has carried the marking since February 2013, in preparation for the change in legislation.

The CE marking indicates that a product complies with EU regulation, but it is a self-certification scheme and it is the manufacturer's responsibility to ensure their products conform to the relevant regulations.

For shower enclosures the key standards to look out for is that the shower enclosure conforms to BS EN14428:2008+A1 - which tests for functional requirements. This then ensures the shower enclosures meets the EU Construction Products Regulation, and can legitimately carry the CE mark. Roman's range has been tested to ensure it conforms and surpasses these standards.

Roman now includes the CE marking within their literature, their individual product instruction manuals and on their website. In line with the standard, Roman also displays their CE documents for each product on their website, so customers can have quick and easy access to this information.

David Osborne, Managing Director at Roman, commented: "This is the most critical change to legislation, for a long time, for retailers, housebuilders, merchants and specifiers to be aware of. We have a responsibility as a manufacturer to ensure our products conform to the standard, but the final reseller of the products (retailers, housebuilders and merchants) also have a responsibility to ensure the products they stock, or are specifying, also conform to the Standard.

"Checking whether a product carries the CE marking is fairly straightforward. Large fines and imprisonment can be the ultimate result for knowingly selling non-conforming products, so we would strongly urge all retailers and merchants to ask the right questions around CE marking to all their suppliers."