The Supreme Spanish Court of Justice obligates the Ministry to recognize the French Quality Mark NF for ribbed bars.

After more than 4 years of administrative procedures and legal disputes with the Technical General Secretariat of the Ministry of Public Works to recognize the French Quality Mark NF ( international and of maximum prestige ) for ribbed bars, the Supreme Court has concluded the subject.

The continued refusal of the Technical General Secretariat (in clear breach of the EU Court of Justice Sentence in 2012 and of European Regulations 764/2008 and 765/2008) generated a long process that ended in two Sentences of the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid ( Spain ) in 2014.

The Ministry appealed to the Supreme Court of Spain, which led two other Sentences in 2017, condemning the Administration and the possibility of any subsequent appeal.

Both Sentences obligate the Technical General Secretariat of the Ministry of Public Works to recognize the French Quality Mark NF for ribbed bars , used for the reinforcement of concrete.

The economic advantages of the NF Mark Recognition for ribbed bars are recognized in the Spanish Structural Concrete Standard (EHE-08): Reduction of safety coefficients in the structural calculation and Reduction of quality control tests, which represents a significant saving in cost and time

Rafael Bueno

Technical Manager

ASIDAC (Importers and Distributers Association of Steel for Construction)

gptecnica@gpacero.es

www.asidac.es