No UK Exemption From European Burglar Resistance Standards

At a joint extraordinary meeting of the BSI Standards Committees, which deal with doors, windows and hardware, held on the 2nd of February, it was agreed that BSI would not proceed with the application for a deviation exempting the UK from implementing the European burglar resistance standards EN 1627-1630. 

It was considered that there was not a sufficient case to be made in favour of the A deviation The A deviation would only have been applicable to Scotland as the proposed argument based on the requirement for security written into the Scottish Building Standards would not have applied to England, Wales and Northern Ireland whose Building Regulations do not include security. Also, the three methods of demonstrating compliance written into the Scottish Building Standards included the ability to reference a 'recognised standard for security' which would include the European Standards. However, the concerns with the European Standards still remain. It is unlikely, due to the manual content involved, that testing would be repeatable and consistent from test to test and from test laboratory to test laboratory.

The manual elements are dependent on the skills, knowledge, size, strength and motivation of the operator. This weakness in respect of repeatability also raises issues with accreditation with UKAS (the United Kingdom Accreditation Service) showing reluctance to accredit testing to the Standards.  If the testing cannot be accredited then this has implications for certification. However, UKAS only operates within the UK and manufacturers would be able to obtain accredited test results from laboratories in other European Countries. It is only in the UK that an independent strategic organisation (the Association of Chief Police Officers) sets the prevailing requirement for security (through the Secured By Design scheme). One of the aspects of the current arrangement of the British Standards is that PAS 24, the enhanced security standard for doorsets, can be adapted, quickly, to reflect changes in the method of achieving entry seen by the Police Service when investigating burglaries.  The concern of SBD is that the European Standards cannot change in parallel with the new methods of attack and so 'enhanced security' doorsets would become vulnerable.

As SBD is an independently operated Scheme, and so is not subject to the same restrictions as BSI and Government Departments, it is free to require whatever level of enhanced security it feels is necessary to fulfil its remit. It is likely, therefore, that for SBD, enhanced security will be determined by testing to the European Standards with additional requirements contained within a modification to PAS 24 retaining the elements of flexibility and adaption required.

For CE marking to the European Product Standard for external windows and pedestrian doorsets, it is not necessary to declare a performance level for Enhanced Security as it is not one of the essential requirements of the Construction Products Directive (CPD).