To reduce bureaucracy in construction and ensure the use of reusable construction products, the Ministry of Economics has developed regulatory amendments, which have been approved by the government.

On March 11 of this year, the Cabinet of Ministers (CM) adopted amendments to the CM Regulation No. 156 of March 25, 2014, “Regulations on the Market Surveillance of Construction Products”, introducing two new sections: requirements for reusable construction products and requirements concerning ionizing radiation from specific types of construction products.

The new amendments strengthen the rights of construction contractors (builders) to decide on the further use of materials obtained from construction sites, establishing the obligation to prepare and attach a declaration of conformity for reusable construction product batches. This declaration will allow contractors to demonstrate compliance with both technological and operational properties of the materials. These changes significantly reduce bureaucracy in construction by ending the previous practice of classifying all recovered materials from construction sites as waste by default. Previously, obtaining reusable status for construction materials was a time-consuming and administratively demanding process, requiring, for instance, waste transportation permits from the State Environmental Service for moving materials to storage facilities outside the construction site, along with other bureaucratic obstacles.

The amendments also specify a range of construction products obtained through demolition or other construction activities that, after testing, can be used in all types of buildings—including load-bearing structures and fire safety-rated structures—and in most buildings even without testing. These materials include bricks, concrete elements, finishing materials, insulation materials, windows and doors, roofing materials, water supply and drainage pipes, telecommunications and electrical network cables, as well as soil and subsoil. The prerequisite for using these materials, whether tested or exempt from testing, is that they must not contain carcinogenic or mutagenic substances.

The amendments regarding ionizing radiation risk mitigation have been included in response to the need for Latvia to transpose the requirements of the EU Directive No. 2013/59/Euratom. Consequently, the regulations now include updated provisions on the monitoring of certain construction products, adding rules for ionizing radiation control, requirements for specific types of construction products, and procedures for sampling construction materials.

Ministry of Economics

Public Relations Department
E-mail: prese@em.gov.lv