RD 163 2019 certification of the production control of manufactured concretes

One of the main new features of Royal Decree 163/2019 is the obligation of periodic supervision of compliance by Accredited Control Bodies external to the plant, which means that manufacturers and their plants will have to be certified by them in order to be able to supply concrete. Therefore, as of the entry into force of this (1 July 2019), concrete plants will have to:

• Undergo an initial inspection, with a deadline of 21 months from the entry into force of the Royal Decree. The adaptation period ends on 31 March 2021.
• Undergo a periodic inspection every 4 years.
• Follow-up reviews every 2 years.

Certification and management systems
In addition, the Royal Decree establishes that those plants that have a quality seal or mark issued by a certification body accredited by ENAC may be exempted from this requirement.

The verifications will be carried out on the production control requirements defined in the standard, such as: controls of component materials and storage conditions, control of installations, control of concrete, control of documentation and traceability, requirements of technical personnel, control of supply, requirements of the production control laboratory and control of environmental aspects.

Another of the main new features of RD 163/2019 is the inclusion of the Control of Environmental Aspects associated with the manufacture of concrete, an issue related to the Sustainability criteria established in Annex 13 of the EHE-08 (structural concrete instruction). This section requires the establishment of operational controls on the production of waste and its recycling, the establishment of impact minimisation measures such as silencing filters, dampers, dust retention screens, etc., and the definition of procedures for the control of environmental aspects.

This new requirement gives rise to new environmental requirements that products and construction processes must comply with in order to be more sustainable and improve their environmental performance, going from being a market requirement to being a regulatory and legal requirement for those products manufactured and placed on the market. Thus, Annex 13 of the EHE-08 stipulates that the sustainability indices and criteria are improved with environmental labels (such as ISO 14001 or EMAS Certifications) and the application of product certifications associated with compliance with GHG (greenhouse gas) reduction.

At Eurocontrol we place at your disposal a wide range of advisory services to comply with the requirements established by Royal Decree 163/2019, ranging from support in the implementation process both in terms of quality and environmental management and support for certification in accordance with the specifications of the regulations, to services such as regulatory inspection of installations, environmental control and measurements, metrological reviews of equipment or health and safety services, among others.