The Declaration of Performance, Explained
What a floor covering's declaration of performance lists under EN 14041, what UKCA or CE means in Great Britain, how to read NPD, and what it leaves out.
Every floor covering sold in Great Britain as a construction product comes with a document that most buyers will not see and few sellers mention: the declaration of performance. It is a short document, it is written by the manufacturer, and it is the only place where the product's regulated characteristics are stated in a form that can be held against them. This guide explains what the document is, what the mark on the box means, what the lines on it say, and what it leaves out.
On this page
What the document is
The rule comes from Regulation (EU) No 305/2011, kept in UK law after leaving the EU: when a construction product is covered by a designated standard, the manufacturer must draw up a declaration of performance when the product is placed on the market. Floor coverings are covered. For resilient, textile, laminate and modular multilayer floor coverings the designated standard is EN 14041; for wood flooring and parquet it is EN 14342, which defines the characteristics and test methods of flat-surface wood flooring and sets the rules for evaluating conformity and marking it.
The declaration is not a datasheet and not a warranty. A datasheet can say what the marketing department likes; the declaration states declared performances against a named standard and carries the manufacturer's name and the product's identification code. A warranty is a promise about the future; the declaration is a statement about the product as tested.
UKCA or CE: what the mark on the box means
A product with a declaration of performance carries a conformity mark. For the Great Britain market that is UKCA or CE: on 2 September 2024 the government confirmed that the CE mark continues to be accepted for construction products, and GOV.UK gives no end date for that recognition. So a box marked CE is not an out-of-date box, and a box marked UKCA is not a better one. Either mark says the same thing: a declaration exists, and the manufacturer stands behind it.
The lines on a floor covering's declaration
Under EN 14041 the essential characteristics declared for a floor covering are reaction to fire, the content of pentachlorophenol, formaldehyde emission, slip resistance, electrical behaviour in its three forms (antistatic, dissipative and conductive), thermal conductivity, and water-tightness. Each line carries either a declared class or value, or the letters NPD.
NPD is not a fail
NPD stands for no performance determined. It means the manufacturer has not declared that characteristic. An NPD against water-tightness on a laminate declaration is not a hidden warning; it is a manufacturer declining to make a claim that the product standard for laminate, EN 13329, does not support, since that standard does not cover areas subject to frequent wetting. What you cannot do is treat NPD as a pass. If a characteristic matters to your room, buy a product that declares it.
What the declaration leaves out
The use class is not on it. EN ISO 10874 classifies floor coverings by area and intensity of use, with 21 to 23 for domestic use, 31 to 34 for commercial and 41 to 43 for industrial, and the product standards build their own classifications on that system. The class is stated on the product's technical sheet or packaging, not on the declaration. The same is true of a laminate's abrasion class, a vinyl's wear layer thickness and an oak board's grade: these are product-standard characteristics and trade descriptions, and the declaration is silent on them. The two documents answer different questions. The declaration answers whether the product may be sold as a construction product and what regulated performances it has; the datasheet answers whether it is the right floor for your room.
What the listings in the range show
A product listing is the datasheet layer, and the range's listings carry the characteristics a buyer compares: the 5 laminate blocks list abrasion class AC4 and a 15-year manufacturer's warranty, the 36 rigid vinyl floors list a 0.3 mm or 0.55 mm wear layer, the five wall panels state their fire rating against EN 13501-1 and their manufacture in Belgium, and the eleven porcelain tiles are listed with a water absorption ratio below 0.50 per cent and Spanish manufacture. None of that is the declaration itself. If the regulated line is the one you need, for a building control query, a landlord's file or a commercial fit-out, ask for the declaration of performance before you order and read the line you care about. It is the manufacturer's document, it names the standard, and it is the version of the claim that counts.
Common questions
Is a CE-marked floor still legal to sell in Great Britain?
Yes. On 2 September 2024 the government confirmed that the CE mark continues to be accepted for construction products on the Great Britain market, alongside UKCA, and no end date has been given for that recognition.
What does NPD mean on a declaration of performance?
No performance determined: the manufacturer has not declared that characteristic. It is neither a pass nor a fail. If the characteristic matters for your room, choose a product that declares it.
Does the slip line on the declaration cover a wet kitchen floor?
No. The method behind it, EN 13893, measures the dynamic coefficient of friction on dry surfaces only. Wet slip potential is assessed with the pendulum test, which is a separate measurement with its own scale.
Where is the AC rating or the use class?
On the product's technical sheet or packaging. They come from the product standards, EN 13329 for laminate and EN ISO 10874 for use classes, and are not essential characteristics under EN 14041, so the declaration does not carry them.
Does a wood floor have a declaration too?
Yes. Wood flooring and parquet fall under EN 14342, which defines their characteristics and test methods and sets the rules for evaluating conformity and marking. The declared lines differ from those of a resilient or laminate floor.
Which document a buyer needs depends on the building as much as the room: a landlord's file in a block of flats asks different questions from a family house. Browse by town and region.
What the published standards say
Who publishes this guide
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