Status and applicability of EUROCODES
The member states of EU and EFTA consider the EUROCODES to be the reference documents for the following purposes:
- as a means to prove compliance of civil engineering works with the essential requirements of directive 89/106/EEC (Construction Products Directive), especially with essential requirement no. 1 "Mechanical resistance and stability" and essential requirement no. 2 "Safety in case of fire";
- as a basis for the formulation of contracts concerning the execution of structures and the required engineering know-how;
- as a framework for the development of harmonized, technical specifications for construction products (ENs and ETAs)
As they are referring to buildings, the EUROCODES are directly related to the interpretative documents, which are referenced in article 12 of the Construction Products Directive, even if they are of a different nature than harmonized product standards.
Thus, the technical aspects arising from the EUROCODES are to be considered by the technical committees of CEN and the working groups of EOTA drafting product standards, in order for the product standards to be completely compatible with the EUROCODES.
The EUROCODES provide rules for the design, calculation and dimensioning of outright structures or building components, which are suitable for everyday use. They go into traditional methods of construction and aspects of innovative applications. However, they do not supply complete guidelines for exceptional buildings and design criteria which might require the input of experts.