The Code for Construction Product Information (2021)

The IET has responded to the Consultation on a new Code for Construction Product Information (CCPI) from the Marketing Integrity Group. The consultation focuses on a draft outline of the Code which aims to ensure that the information manufacturers supply about their products is clear, accurate, up-to-date, accessible and unambiguous.

Whilst the IET supports the principle of improvement of product dissemination within the industry and agrees that a code of conduct that helps communication with integrity is a useful and necessary tool, it cannot support the Code in its current form.

The IET is concerned about the ‘mandatory by default’ nature of the draft Code, a lack of clarity of purpose and a lack of alignment with both the current regulatory landscape and the emerging roles of Building Safety Regulator and Construction Product Regulator. This will create confusion, wasted resource and regulatory loopholes.

The IET also notes the lack of consistent and impartial advice on how organisations should implement the code. This lack of advice is creating a vacuum that is already being filled by commercial third-party providers and raising questions about the independence of the Marketing Integrity Group.

The IET recommends that the Marketing Integrity Group:

• Makes the code voluntary
• Aligns the code more closely to both existing regulatory and audit processes and the emerging Regulators
• Is rigorously independent of commercial interests and abandons its suggestion of a ‘Supporters’ category
• Adopts a clearer set of instructions for manufacturers about how to comply
• Makes a commitment to digitisation a requirement to comply with the Code and
• Remains impartial in its development of this guidance by filling the vacuum with simple advice on digitisation and information management.