What Is a CE Certificate? How It Differs from and Relates to the TSE Certificate

With the CE marking, the manufacturer indicates that the product meets the requirements laid down in the European Union’s product rules. CE is used only for product groups whose rules have been harmonised across Europe. There are separate rules for toys, electrical equipment, machinery and construction products.

The CE marking is affixed by the manufacturer, who thereby takes responsibility for the product. In the European Union there is no central body that grants permission or a certificate for the CE marking. For some product groups the manufacturer must have the product assessed by an independent body before affixing the marking; for others this is not required.

A CE-marked product can move freely and be sold within the European Union, regardless of where it was manufactured. In Türkiye, too, for construction products covered by a harmonised standard, CE is the only marking that confirms conformity with the declared performance.

For construction products, CE shows that the product conforms to the values the manufacturer has stated in the Declaration of Performance. The Declaration of Performance is the document in which the manufacturer lists the product’s essential characteristics and their values, and signs it. A construction product may not bear the CE marking unless this declaration has been drawn up.

Most misconceptions about CE arise from attributing to it things it does not do:

• It is not a quality certificate: CE shows that the product conforms to its declared performance. The declared values show how strong the product is; the level required for a particular job is set by that job’s design and specification.
• It is not a certificate “issued” by a body: The marking is affixed by the manufacturer. Assessment by an independent body is a step in this process only for the products for which the legislation requires it.
• It is not mandatory for every product: For construction products, CE is mandatory if the product is covered by a harmonised standard or if a European Technical Assessment has been issued for it.
• It is not a mark of origin: It does not mean that the product was made in Europe. Products made in Türkiye bear it under the same rules.
• It is not a TSE certificate: It is not the same as the certificate issued by the Turkish Standards Institution (TSE); neither replaces the other.
• It does not mean the product suits every job: If the declared value does not meet the value a job requires, the product cannot be used for that job, even if it bears the CE marking.

For construction products, CE is based on the harmonised standard. As a rule, compliance with standards is voluntary. A harmonised standard, however, is one drawn up by one of the European standardisation organisations at the request of the European Commission. In Türkiye, the reference numbers of these standards and the start and end dates of their coexistence (transition) periods are announced on the official website of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change. If a construction product falls within the scope of a harmonised standard, the manufacturer must draw up a Declaration of Performance and affix the CE marking to the product.

The harmonised standard for concrete pipes is EN 1916, and for manholes it is EN 1917. Both are on the European Union’s list of harmonised standards. In Türkiye they have been published by TSE as TS 821 EN 1916 and TS EN 1917.

The manufacturer follows these steps:

• 1) Identifies the product’s harmonised standard.
• 2) Determines the product’s performance using the methods in the standard and sets up factory production control (FPC).
• 3) If the product’s system requires an independent body, has the product assessed by a notified body.
• 4) Draws up and signs the Declaration of Performance, and keeps the supporting technical documentation for ten years.
• 5) Affixes the CE marking to the product, its label or the accompanying documents.

How the declared performance of a construction product is assessed, and how it is maintained throughout production, is determined by one of several systems. The Regulation calls them systems of “assessment and verification of constancy of performance”. The systems differ in how much of the work is done by the manufacturer and how much by a notified body. Notified bodies are independent, third-party bodies designated by the Ministry for this task.

Annex 5 of the Turkish Construction Products Regulation, which lists these systems, was amended on 20 February 2026. In its current form there are six systems:

• System 1+: A notified body assesses the product’s performance. The body first inspects the factory production control and the manufacturing plant and then keeps them under continuous surveillance; it also checks samples that it takes. The manufacturer operates the factory production control and carries out further testing. The body issues a “certificate of constancy of performance”.
• System 1: The same as System 1+, except that the body does not additionally take and check samples.
• System 2+: The manufacturer assesses the product’s performance. The notified body only inspects the factory production control and the manufacturing plant and then keeps them under continuous surveillance. The body issues a “certificate of conformity of the factory production control”.

• System 3: The manufacturer operates the factory production control. The product’s performance is determined by a notified laboratory on the basis of a sample taken by the manufacturer.
• System 3+: The manufacturer assesses the product’s performance using data collected for input values, assumptions and modelling, and operates the factory production control. The notified body validates this assessment, the assumptions and the software used, and carries out an initial inspection of the plant. This system entered the Regulation with the 2026 amendment.
• System 4: The manufacturer carries out both the assessment of performance and the factory production control. As the Regulation puts it, no task requires the involvement of a notified body.

Which product falls under which system is decided by European Commission decisions, and the harmonised standard contains the details needed to apply that system. Where a notified body is involved, its identification number appears on the CE label.

According to European Commission decisions, the system specified for manholes and for pipes carrying water not intended for human consumption is System 4. In other words, for the CE marking of concrete pipes and manholes there is no body that visits the factory or issues a certificate, and no notified body number appears on the CE label.

This does not mean that the declaration goes unchecked; the checks come afterwards rather than beforehand. By drawing up the Declaration of Performance, the manufacturer takes responsibility for the product’s conformity with the declared performance. Market surveillance is carried out by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change through its provincial directorates. For a product that does not meet the requirements, the Ministry may require corrective action or the withdrawal or recall of the product, and it may prohibit or restrict the product’s availability on the market. Whether a product is suitable for a particular job before it is used in a building is checked by building inspection firms and by the officials of the contracting authorities.

TS 821 EN 1916 is the edition of the European standard EN 1916 published by TSE. The standard covers unreinforced, steel-fibre and reinforced concrete pipes and fittings. For circular pipes its scope extends up to DN 1750; larger pipes fall outside it.

EN 1916 defines a pipe’s load-bearing capacity in terms of strength classes. We explained how the strength class is calculated in our article Strength Class (https://www.birbesan.com.tr/en/blog/strength-class). However, the standard does not specify the minimum class or the minimum crushing load that a pipe must have, nor does it specify the concrete cover to the reinforcement. For these values, the rules of the place of use apply. The Turkish Construction Products Regulation is built on the same approach: as long as the performance declared for the intended use meets the national requirements for that use and does not breach the legislation, the making available on the market or the use of a CE-marked product may not be prevented. This is why the manufacturer declares the pipe’s class, while the design and specification of each job decide which class that job requires.

For products covered by EN 1916, CE marking has been mandatory in the European Union since 23 November 2004. On 1 July 2013 the document changed: from that date the Turkish Construction Products Regulation, prepared with regard to Regulation (EU) No 305/2011, began to apply, and the Declaration of Performance replaced the declaration of conformity drawn up under the previous rules.

The harmonised standard determines which characteristics appear in the Declaration of Performance. Under the Turkish Construction Products Regulation, a product’s essential characteristics are set out in the harmonised technical specifications. The Declaration of Performance states the product type, the system applied, the reference number and date of the standard used, the product’s intended use, the list of essential characteristics in the standard, and the performance for these characteristics, expressed as a level, a class or a description. The manufacturer must declare the performance of at least one essential characteristic; for the characteristics not declared, the letters “NPD” (No Performance Determined) are used. In Türkiye the Declaration of Performance is drawn up in Turkish.

The criteria and methods of assessment are also contained in the standard. Under the Regulation, once the coexistence period has ended, that standard must be used for the Declaration of Performance and the CE marking. For concrete pipes this standard is TS 821 EN 1916. In other words, TS 821 EN 1916 states on what basis the strength class is determined and by which method it is measured.

Not every value in the declaration is of the same kind. The Regulation defines these values as follows:

• Class: a range of levels of performance bounded by a maximum and a minimum value. The strength class of a concrete pipe is an example.
• Level: the performance expressed as a number.
• Threshold level: the minimum or maximum level of performance of an essential characteristic of a construction product. If a threshold level has been set for a characteristic, the product must meet it.

These definitions point to an important fact: a characteristic declared as a class also has a minimum value, because every class has a lower limit. A pipe that does not reach the lower limit of its declared class does not meet its declaration. Which characteristic is expressed as a class and which as a threshold level is determined by the harmonised standard.

Much of the confusion comes from mixing up two separate roles of TSE:

• TSE as the body that publishes the standard: TSE publishes TS 821 EN 1916 in Türkiye. The CE declaration is based on this standard.
• TSE as the body that issues certificates: The TSE certificate is the document showing that a product conforms to a Turkish standard. It is issued on the manufacturer’s application and maintained through TSE’s surveillance inspections.

So CE depends not on the TSE certificate but on the standard TS 821 EN 1916 itself. The CE declaration and the TSE certificate rest on the same standard, but neither depends on the other. The Turkish Construction Products Regulation gives the TSE certificate no role that could take the place of CE.

Three points deserve attention:

• The declaration is always made by the manufacturer: A TSE auditor does not make the declaration.
• TSE surveillance is not a CE assessment: Because concrete pipes and manholes are in System 4, no independent body has a task under CE. TSE’s surveillance is carried out for the TSE certificate.
• Neither replaces the other: A manufacturer that holds a TSE certificate must still draw up a Declaration of Performance and affix the CE marking. A manufacturer that makes a CE declaration without holding a TSE certificate has also declared against the same standard; however, no independent body reviews that declaration regularly, and the checks are carried out through the Ministry’s market surveillance.

The questions asked about a concrete pipe or a manhole are answered by different documents. The documents on BİR BE SAN’s Quality page show this distinction:

• “Can this product be sold legally?” The answer is the CE marking and the Declaration of Performance. Our concrete pipes within the scope of TS 821 EN 1916 are CE-marked to that standard, and our manholes to TS EN 1917.
• “On what basis were the declared values stated?” The answer is the standards TS 821 EN 1916 and TS EN 1917.
• “Is the product certified by TSE and under its surveillance?” The answer is the TSE certificates. We hold TSE certificates for the same two standards.
• “Are production and quality processes managed according to a system?” The answer is the TS EN ISO 9001 Quality Management System certificate.

Our Quality page also lists other documents, such as the İLBANK approval. None of these documents replaces another. You can find all our certificates on our Quality page.