CEN establishes Infill Task Group to look at sampling and testing of materials

Following a proposal by ESTO, the European Standards Committee CEN TC 217, responsible for sports surfaces, has recently announced the creation of a task group to develop a European Standard Code of Practice for the sampling and testing of infill materials used in synthetic turf fields.

The task group has been created in response to a number of countries developing national proposals for testing infill materials, as the need to demonstrate compliance with REACH and other regulations increases, as a result of recent media concerns.   ESTO identified that if left to individual countries, infill suppliers could be faced with a multitude of different procedures they would need to comply with if they wished to sell their products on a Europe-wide basis.  By developing  a Europe Standard Code of Practice it is hoped one method of sampling and testing can be adopted, meaning suppliers need only have one system of monitoring that will be accepted in all European markets.

CEN is currently asking the national standards bodies of Europe (DIN, NEN, AFNOR, BSI, etc.) to nominate experts to join the task group.  ESTO, as an official observer organisation of CEN, will participate and has nominated Daniel Schockmann of Genan as its representative.   Alastair Cox, ESTO’s Technical Consultant, will chair the task group.  The first meeting will be held in late March, in Brussels.