EN Standards

Preservation of wood and wood products

Within Europe there are recognised industry standards relating to the preservative protection of timber. Some relate to the development and testing of wood preservative products to make sure they are effective in extending the service life of timber. Some relate to the end use of the treated timbers which will affect the type and level of treatment required. Some relate to the actual treatment procedures, helping to ensure high quality treatment results and high performance treated timbers.

CEN/TC 38 – Durability of wood and wood-based products

Standardization of natural or conferred durability of wood and wood-based products against biological agents and their characteristics associated with exposure

CEN/TC 38 Subcommittees and Working Groups

CEN/TC 38/WG 21 Durability – Classification ( Use classes-natural durability)
CEN/TC 38/WG 22 Performance – Assessment and specifications (treated wood – Wood preservatives)
CEN/TC 38/WG 23 Fungal testing (basidiomycetes-microfungi)
CEN/TC 38/WG 24 Insect testing – (beetles – termites)
CEN/TC 38/WG 25 External Factors and Preconditioning
CEN/TC 38/WG 26 Physical/chemical factors (analytical methods)
CEN/TC 38/WG 27 Exposure Aspects
CEN/TC 38/WG 28 Performance classification

National standars and practice

Across Europe there are different regional authorities that work with the building and construction industry including timber protection to interpret and implement these standards.

For instance the NTR covers Scandinavian markets, the FCBA is the regulatory authority in France and recognized in many western European markets and the Wood Protection Association works with the British Standards Institute in the UK to advise and provide an industry code of practice.

The regional standards will differ as certain species are more prevalent in certain markets and require different approaches to achieve effective preservation results. One common approach throughout the markets is a move towards ‘results’ based treatments rather than a previous reliance on ‘treatment process’ parameters.