THE EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF ASSOCIATIONS OF LOCKS AND BUILDERS HARDWARE MANUFACTURERS

ARBEITSGEMEINSCHAFT DER VERBÄNDE DER EUROPÄISCHEN SCHLOSS UND BESCHLAGINDUSTRIE

FEDERATION EUROPEENNE DES ASSOCIATIONS DE FABRICANTS DE SERRURES ET DE FERRURES

WELCOME TO ARGE

ARGE is a Trade Assocition that represents lock and hardware manufacturers within Europe and Scandanavia.

ARGE operates through an:

ARGE Projects and Topics which result in Industry Standards and Regulations.

Lobbying and informing the European Commision is enabled due to ARGEs pan-European presence.

ARGE NEWS

NEW LIST OF CEN TERMS AND ACRONYMS

Alessandro Brunelli ARGE’S Technical Consultant has produced a brief but informative list of CEN Terms and Acronyms. This can be found on a new CEN Technical Definitions and Summaries web page.

To help use decide what would be most useful we request that you e-mail z.quinlan@arge.org if you would like to have access to the technical reports that Brunelli is producing and do not have access to the members area of this website.

David Whitworth turns 80

Honorary President David Whitworth will be 80 years old on the 22nd January 2012. His 58 years of commitment to the Hardware Industry are continuing with him holding the position of Chairman on the Access2 Board (Cylinders and Access Control), being a member of Irish Company KCC (Cylinder Components), is an Executive that is heading the Hardware Committee for the Door and Hardware (DHF) and the recent position as Convenor of the new subgroup of ARGE’s Working Group C.

The Subgroup of ARGE Working Group C is responsible for bringing sustainability in the Hardware Industry to each of the 16 European National Associations who are Members of ARGE. David Whitworth is responsible for shaping the future of the industry a task he embraces with enthusiasm.

Environmental Product Declarations – a key component of sustainable building

Sustainable building is the order of the day, not only because it becomes mandatory when the new Construction Products regulation will be obligatory for each producer in 2013. The quality and sustainability of buildings is largely dependent on the components used and their individual integration situation. The appropriate classification of building materials and components is a fundamental element of the sustainable building idea. Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) convey informative, neutral and comprehensive details regarding the environmental performance of building materials. The following key environmental information is agreed internationally and will be determined by the EPDs:

  • Primary energy, non-renewable,
  • Primary energy, renewable,
  • Global warming potential,
  • Ozone depletion potential,
  • Acidification potential,
  • Eutrophication potential,
  • Summer smog potential.
While the buildings are assessed over their entire life cycle, for locks and construction hardware products only production and distribution and – at the end of the life cycle - recycling is of interest. On the European level it is of major importance to keep things comparable. Thus the “ECO-platform” had been founded by several European institutions. Their major target is to create unitary “European Core EPDs” on the basis of EN15804, which will be accepted by all of the member states and which have the flexibility to adapt national amendments in addition. As special subgroup of Working Group C, ARGE will undertake the task to create core EPDs for our products as branch solution, applicable for all its members.