SESOC Journal
CONFORMITY OF STRUCTURAL STEEL
PRODUCTS AND STRUCTURES
by S Hicks, HERA General Manager, stephen.hicks@hera.org.nz
1 CONFORMITY REQUIREMENTS
VERSUS CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT
It is important that a distinction is made between
conformity requirements and conformity assessment,
which are given generically below in Section 1.1 and 1.2.
1.1 CONFORMITY REQUIREMENTS
The conformity requirements set-out in product standards
provide:
• The characteristics of the product that are needed to
provide an expected performance.
• The measurement and test methods which specify
the procedure for determining the values of the
characteristics or for checking conformity to stated
requirements.
• The required frequency of the measurements.
1.2 CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT
Conformity assessment involves a set of processes
that show a product, service or system meets the
requirements of a standard. Undergoing the conformity
assessment process has a number of benefits:
• It provides consumers and other stakeholders with
added confidence.
• It provides a company with a competitive edge,
differentiating it from companies that have not
achieved certification.
• It helps regulators ensure that technical, health, safety
or environmental conditions are met.
The main forms of conformity assessment are testing,
certification, and inspection. Some examples of
Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) whom are
specialists in structural steel and are accredited to
perform these activities are:
• Notified Bodies that are listed on the Nando web-site,
whom are listed as being able to certify steel products
manufactured to EN 10025-1 to -6 and are accredited
to the appropriate AVCP system that is given in
the Construction Products Regulation to enable a
manufacturer to CE mark their products (see Section
1.3.1). (N.B. The CE mark is an EU regulatory mark
and not a product certification mark, or quality mark).
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• UK CARES (Certification Authority for Reinforcing
Steels), whom are accredited by UKAS (United
Kingdom Accreditation Service) according to
ISO Guide 65 and ISO 17021 to provide product
certification of reinforcing, prestressing and structural
steel products manufactured and supplied to BS and
EN standards.
• ACRS (Australasian Certification Authority for
Reinforcing and Structural Steels), whom are
accredited by JAS-ANZ (Joint Accreditation System
of Australia and New Zealand) according to ISO/
IEC 17065 to provide product certification of
reinforcing, prestressing and structural steel products
manufactured and supplied to AS and AS/NZS
standards.
1.3 CONFORMITY OF STEEL PRODUCTS
Manufacturers of structural steel products are required to
perform the following in EN, AS and AS/NZS standards:
• Initial Type Testing (ITT): the complete set of
tests described in a standard to determine the
characteristics of samples of products representative
of the product type. The ITT provides the manufacturer
with the characteristics of the product using their
manufacturing, measuring and quality management
system (QMS) and needs to be undertaken before a
product is placed on the market.
• Factory Production Control (FPC): the permanent
internal control of production exercised by the
manufacturer, which provides a means by which a
manufacturer ensures that the performances declared
by him (obtained on the basis of ITT) continue to
be valid for all subsequent products. This generally
involves ensuring that subsequent products remain
substantially the same as those submitted to ITT (i.e.
having the same characteristics).
1.3.1 HOT ROLLED STEEL PRODUCTS
TO EN 10025-1 TO - 6
Conformity requirements
Conformity requirements for ITT and FPC are presented
in Annex B of EN 10025-1, which applies to the products
described in EN 10025-2 to EN 10025-6. Unlike AS and
AS/NZS standards, EN 10025-1 to -6 only provide the
Journal of the Structural Engineering Society of New Zealand Inc

mechanical and chemical conformity requirements of the
structural steel material. The geometry and geometrical
tolerances are given in separate standards such as EN
10029 for plate, EN 10034 for I- and H-sections, etc.
Conformity assessment
Unlike the Eurocodes which are developed by the
industry (e.g. for steel design, EN 1993-1-1, EN 1994-1-
1, etc.), EN standards that are prepared at the request
of the European Commission (to implement European
legislation) are known as ‘mandated’ standards. When
‘mandated’ standards are prepared under the ‘new
approach’ directives, they are known as ‘harmonized
standards’ (hENs) and are cited in the Official Journal of
the European Communities (OJ).
Normally hENs are used for product standards and are
immediately recognizable as they possess an informative
Annex ZA, which lists the regulated requirements
according to a mandate issued by the European
Assessment of products performance based on testing, calculation, tabulated
values or descriptive documentation
Notified Body
Tasks for the
Initial inspection of the manufacturing plant
Initial inspection of the Factory Production Control (FPC) system
Continuing surveillance of the FPC system
Audit testing
To issue, restrict, suspend or withdraw a certificate of constancy of performance
Assessment of products performance based on testing, calculation, tabulated
manufacturer
Tasks for the
values or descriptive documentation
FPC and further testing of samples
FPC
Determination of the product-type
Table 1 Assessment of conformity tasks according to the Construction Products Regulation
Before a product is placed on the market, a Declaration
of Performance (DoP) needs to be produced by the
manufacturer, importer or distributor, thereby assuming
legal responsibility of its declared performance. The DoP,
inter alia, identifies the hEN, the System of AVCP, the
Notified Body and the information required in Annex ZA of
the appropriate hEN. In addition, the CE Marking needs
to be affixed to the construction product, which indicates
that it is consistent with its DoP. When considering steel
construction, manufacturers, importers or distributors of
structural steel products produced to EN 10025-1 to -6,
are required to provide a DoP to System type 2+ of AVCP.
Volume 29 No.2 September 2016
SESOC Journal
Commission and the clauses within the hEN in which they
are addressed; therefore, Annex ZA in a particular hEN
provides a checklist for a manufacturer to CE Mark their
product. For building products the Construction Products
Regulation, or ‘CPR’ (Regulation 305/2011) resulted in
CE Marking becoming mandatory from 1 July 2013 in the
European Economic Area (EEA). However, CE Marking is
not applicable in countries outside the EEA (28 countries)
and the three EFTA states (Iceland, Liechtenstein and
Norway).
According to the CPR, the system of Assessment and
Verification of Constancy of Performance (AVCP) defines
the degree of involvement of third-party Notified Bodies
in assessing the conformity of a product. There are five
systems of AVCP: the highest being 1+ (corresponding
to safety-critical products); and the lowest being System
type 4. The tasks and responsibilities for each system are
shown in Table 1.
System type
1+ 1 2+ 3 4
X X
X X X X
X X X X
X X X X
X
X X X X
X X
X X X
X X
X X X X X
In order that a purchaser can check whether a Notified
Body is accredited to undertake the AVCP, a list of
Notified Bodies is given on the Nando (New Approach
Notified and Designated Organisations) Information
System at the following internet address: http://
ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/nando/.
By way of an example, Appendix A presents an
inspection certificate issued by Tata Steel UK for an EN
10025-2:S355J0+AR 203 × 203 UC 46.1 [N.B. because
of the age of the attached certificate, it refers to the CPD
(construction products regulation), which was replaced by
the CPR in 2011].
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SESOC Journal
By considering Item 5 in Appendix A, the license number
of 0038 is given for the Notified Body (Lloyds Verification
Services); this can be verified by checking this license
number on the Nando web-site.
Particular note should be paid to Item 2 in Appendix A,
where EN 10025 permits an Inspection certificate Type
2.2 for products where the specified minimum yield
strength for the thinnest thickness range ≤ 355 MPa and
a specified impact energy tested at a temperature of 0°C
or 20°C. Conversely, when a product is used within a
steel structure, the fabrication and erection standard EN
1090-2 (see Section 2) requires an Inspection document
3.1 for steel grade S355 JR or J0. It is recommended by
the present author that an Inspection document 3.1 or
3.2 is specified.
UK CARES is an independent, not-for-profit certification
body, established in 1983 to provide confidence to the
users, purchasers and specifiers of constructional steels
through a regime of regulation, testing and inspection (see
http://www.ukcares.com/). It operates for the benefit of
the construction industry offering certification schemes for
companies that produce materials, components or offer
services, primarily to the reinforced concrete industry.
Although originally established to provide certification
for products manufactured to BS standards, following
the withdrawal of BS to make way for EN standards,
CARES product certification (quality mark), in addition to
CE marking (regulatory mark), is a requirement in the UK
for major construction specifications. Such Specification
for Highway Works, County Councils specifications, the
National Building Specification and the National Structural
Concrete specification, to provide additional confidence
to users and asset-owners. (N.B. It may be possible for
UK CARES to provide assessments of manufacturers
who produce products to other standards, but this
might need to be considered on a case-by-case basis in
response to requests from the industry).
1.3.2 STEEL PRODUCTS TO AS/NZS 1163, 3878,
3679.1 AND 3679.2
Conformity requirements
Appendix B that is included in the 2016 edition of AS/
NZS 1163, 3878 and 3679.1 has taken inspiration from
EN 10025-1, Annex B in that conformity requirements for
ITT and FPC are given. However, Standards Australia and
Standards New Zealand strictly adhere to the following
rules :
• They follow the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 "neutrality
principle", such that conformity can be assessed by
a first-party (manufacturer or supplier), second-party
(a user or purchaser), or third-party (an independent
body).
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• No document containing requirements for products,
processes, services, persons, systems and bodies
shall make conformity dependent on a quality
management systems standard (e.g. it shall not make
normative reference to ISO 9001).
• As opposed to EN 10025-1 and other EN product
standards, there is no equivalent Annex ZA in AS and
AS/NZS standards. Both standards bodies require
conformity assessment to be considered in a separate
standard containing the specific requirements for
assessment of conformity or for a relevant conformity
assessment scheme. Conformity assessment
standards are not encouraged by Standards Australia
and any such development is considered on a case-
by-case basis and can only proceed after approval
has been sought and granted from the Standards
Development and Accreditation Committee (SDAC).
Conformity assessment
Given that Standards Australia and Standards New
Zealand adopt the neutrality principle, the conformity
assessment can be made by a first-, second- or third-
party. There are currently only two third-party schemes
for structural steel products available in Australasia, as
follows:
• The ACRS Scheme (developed from the UK CARES
scheme), details of which are given in the following
link http://www.steelcertification.com/scheme.html.
Unlike other CABs, ACRS has a particular specialism
in certifying construction steels (ACRS auditors are
all qualified metallurgists with extensive technical
and operational experience in steel manufacturing of
the specific products they assess). ACRS product
conformity assessment are the requirements of AS/
NZS steel standards and are additional to the quality
management system assessment requirements under
any ISO 9001 certification held by the manufacturer.
The ACRS Scheme is the only steel certification
scheme currently accredited by JAS-ANZ. (N.B. It may
be possible for UK CARES to provide assessments
of manufacturers who produce products to other
standards, but this might need to be considered on a
case-by-case basis in response to requests from the
industry).
• ATIC (Australian Technical Infrastructure Committee)
Scheme 10, which is generally considered to be less
rigorous than the ACRS scheme, but can be serviced
by a number of CABs. Details of ATIC Scheme 10 are
given in the following link: http://www.atic.net.au/
ATIC_conformity_assessment.html
Journal of the Structural Engineering Society of New Zealand Inc

2 FABRICATION AND ERECTION
(EXECUTION) STANDARDS FOR
STEEL STRUCTURES
Since 2008, the fabrication and erection of steel
structures (as well as reinforced concrete structures) has
been formalized through so-called ‘execution’ standards.
Execution standards assume that the product is the
finished structure (whether it is a multi-storey building or a
bridge), which is manufactured under factory conditions.
To enable the safety factors used in the design standards
to remain constant, irrespective of the consequence
class of the structure (equivalent to Importance Level
in AS/NZS 1170.0), different levels of quality control
and management measures are mandated in these
execution standards to provide the necessary reliability
differentiation.
2.1 STEEL STRUCTURES FABRICATED
TO EN 1090-1 AND EN 1090-2
Like EN 10025-1, EN 1090-1 possess an informative
Annex ZA, which lists the regulated requirements
according to a mandate issued by the European
Commission and the clauses within the hEN in which
they are addressed; therefore, in this case, Annex ZA
provides a checklist for a fabricator to CE Mark their
product. Whereas, EN 1090-2 provides the conformity
requirements for fabricated steelwork. In the UK CE
marking of fabricated structural steelwork became
mandatory on 1 July 2014.
The concept for CE marking is that once the fabricator
processes the products that are CE marked by the
steelmaker, CE marking is lost and the fabricator needs
to have the appropriate systems in place for him to
apply CE marking to the finished fabricated product.
Like EN 10025-1, System type 2+ of AVCP is required
in EN 1090-1 (see Table 1); this requires the fabricator to
undertake:
• Initial type-testing of the product
• Factory Production Control (FPC), which includes:
o implementation of FPC system procedures;
o appointment of a responsible welding coordinator
(RWC); and
o implementation of welding quality management
system (WQMS) procedures.
• Further testing of samples taken at the factory in
accordance with the prescribed test plan.
Volume 29 No.2 September 2016
SESOC Journal
The different levels of quality control, management
measures and traceability are dependent on the
execution class (EXC) of the structure from EXC1 for
low consequences of failure to EXC4 for the highest
consequences of failure. The latest edition of the
European design standard EN 1993-1-1 provides a
risk-based matrix that the designer is required to use to
enable the appropriate EXC to be specified for a particular
structure.
Different fabricators can be certified for different EXC by
a Notified Body. In the UK, the main Notified Body for
fabricated structural steelwork is the Steel Construction
Certification Scheme (see https://www.steelconstruction.
org/steel-construction-certificate-scheme-sccs/ ). Other
Notified Bodies to EN 1090-1 are given on the Nando
web-site.
2.2 STEEL STRUCTURES FABRICATED
TO ISO 17607
ISO 17607 is currently under development and takes
inspiration from EN 1090-2. HERA is the Convenor of the
New Zealand International Review Group (IRG) for ISO/
TC 167 Steel and aluminium structures, which is the ISO
Technical Committee responsible for ISO 17607.
2.3 STEEL STRUCTURES FABRICATED TO AS/
NZS 5131
HERA, SCNZ and ASI were responsible for the structural
steelwork fabrication and erection Code of Practice
(CoP), which takes inspiration from EN 1090-2 and was
published in 2014. The contents of the CoP, together
with ISO 17607, have been used as the basis for AS/
NZS 5131 which was published for public comment
on 23 March 2016. In this standard ‘Construction
Category’ is used instead of EXC. It is assumed that the
implementation will follow the same format as in Europe,
where future editions of the design standard NZS 3404/
AS 4100 will provide a risk-based matrix that the designer
is required to use to enable the appropriate construction
category to be specified.
For the conformity assessment of fabricators to AS/
NZS 5131, two schemes have been developed and are
serviced by ‘Notified Bodies’ in NZ and Australia, as
follows:
• Steel Fabricator Certification (SFC) – see http://
steelfabcert.co.nz/
• Steelwork Compliance Australia (SCA) – see http://
www.scacompliance.com.au/
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SESOC Journal
APPENDIX A
EXAMPLE INSPECTION CERTIFICATE FOR EN
10025 STEEL PRODUCTS
The relevant parts of the certificate are:
1. The name and address of the supplier / manufacturer.
2. Identification of the Inspection certificate type (e.g.
EN10204, 3.1 or 3.2). This certificate complies with
the requirements of EN10204 and is a Type 3.1 -
which is a manufacturer's test certificate showing
actual results linked to the batch of material relevant
to the certificate. A Type 3.2 certificate is endorsed
by an independent inspection authority and will
again show actual results linked to the relevant
batch of material. If neither type is identified on the
certificate then it is most probable that the certificate
is just a Quality Report (Certificate type 2.2) and any
information shown concerning properties / chemistry
should be treated with care as it is only indicative of
typical results from this type of material and does not
give actual test results from the batch.
3. Date of issue of the certificate.
4. Details of the specification and the product. This
certificate covers UKC 203 x 203 x 46.1 to BS EN
10025 – 2. The steel grade is S355, the sub grade is
J0 indicating that the Charpy impact tests were taken
at 0°C; +AR indicates the as-rolled delivery condition.
5. The CE mark and license number for the third-party
Notified Body issuing the manufacturer with the
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approval to apply the CE mark to their products (e.g.
0038, Lloyds Verification Services). The CE symbol
has defined dimensions and if the font or size looks
unusual it may indicate that the certificate is false.
6. The unique number for the certificate confirming the
chemical and mechanical properties of the tested
items.
7. The unique number for the CE marking certificate.
8. The identifying information for the tested material. In
this case there were 12 bars from Cast 83228 and 36
bars from Cast 83232. All bars are 18300 mm long as
indicated in the Specification/Product area.
9. The mechanical properties (minimum yield, tensile
strength and elongation) of the tested items – the
header indicates the range of values to be achieved.
10. Charpy test results indicating the toughness of the
steel. The results cover three tests on each cast with
the average value also displayed.
11. Chemical analysis of the test material – one analysis
per cast. Results shown on the inspection certificate
should be checked against the appropriate material
specification/standard to confirm compliance and
that the product is fit for the purpose for which it
was bought but that should not be necessary for CE
marked material.
12. CEV (Carbon Equivalent Value) for the cast, which is
an indication of the weldability of the steel.
13. Signature of an approved person.
14. Name and address of the original customer.
Journal of the Structural Engineering Society of New Zealand Inc