Brazilian plywood should be in a position to be widely specified for structural applications in the UK from next April.
This was the message from the country’s industry association ABIMCI at a special presentation at the Brazilian embassy in London.
The event was held to flag up progress on the Brazilians’ PNQM (National Programme for Quality) standard. The aim is for this to achieve equivalence with the new European standard EN13986:2002 covering panels for use in construction which comes into effect in April 2004. The Brazilians say that UK plywood users will then be free to specify it structurally, overcoming the current obstacle of the BS 5268 Pt 2 design standard which only sanctions use of material from Finland, the US, Sweden and Canada.
Dr Ivan Tomaselli, ABIMCI’s vice-president for development and technology, said that the PNQM standard was “objective, scientific and modern”. “It’s implementation has involved participation from international consultants and producers, auditors and university laboratories,” he said. “We now have 18 pine plywood mills accredited and 25 tropical plywood plants are in the process.”
|
“The aim is to include the CEN logo on the PNQM stamp” |
|
Dr Ivan Tomaselli, ABIMCI |
Isac Zugman, ABIMCI vice-president for international business, added that PNQM had a strict enforcement procedure and involved regular re-audits of certified mills.
Dr Tomaselli said that the hope was that the standard would be reviewed by the Inter-national Accreditation Forum and approved as an equivalent to the CEN standard this year. “The aim is to include the CEN logo on the PNQM stamp.”
Timber Trade Federation product manager Nick Boulton pointed out that as BS 5268 Pt 2 would continue to run alongside the new CEN standard, specifiers might continue to prefer plywood carrying the British Standard logo out of familiarity. But Mr Zugman said the Brazilian industry would “actively work to ensure market access to PNQM products”.
