FIEC Newsletter 17.01.2017

FIEC at European Parliament hearing on CPR

On 31 January, the European Parliament will hold a hearing on the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) and its impact on the internal market. The event will be hosted by Catherine Stihler MEP, Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO). Jan Coumans, Chairman of TEC-1, the sub-commission on Regulation and Standardisation will explain how FIEC believes the CPR could be improved for contractors.

VET4LEC : New project on training and low energy construction

The EU social partners for the construction industry, FIEC and EFBWW (European Federation of Building and Wood Workers) have received the approval of the European Commission for a new project entitled VET4LEC. This acronym summarises the main objective of the project, namely addressing the links and interactions between Vocational Education and Training and low energy construction. The project, co-financed by the European Commission, will last 2 years and involves partners from 10 different Member States.
The project partners will collect, assess and compare national case studies, amongst others developed in the framework of the "Buildup Skills" initiative and on this basis identify the coordination and knowledge, skills and competence needed to achieve energy efficiency targets and provide high quality services on site in different countries.

FIEC and EFBWW say no to the proposed European services e-card

In a joint press release published yesterday, FIEC and EFBWW expressed their strong disappointment towards the European Commission's attitude and proposal for a European services e-card.

"The whole consultation process has been very opaque and the Commission's services never provided us with real constructive answers to the many concerns we have raised", stressed FIEC President Jean-Louis Marchand, "Now, there is a proposal on the table which has never been asked for by the Social Partners of the construction sector!"

According to their preliminary assessment of this complex piece of legislation, FIEC and EFBWW are worried about the tricky procedures proposed and doubtful about the effective added-value of this card for construction companies. Also, a certain number of clarifications will be necessary.