Manufacturers of construction materials across the UAE have been given the deadline of 2014 to regulate their products under the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA)’s mandatory registration.

The unified building code will be applicable on products not covered under ESMA’s regulations, a senior official is reported to have said.

An initiative by ESMA and the Gulf Standardisation Organisation (GSO), the unified code is expected to come into effect by next year and cover multiple construction materials, such as paints, glass, flooring, ceramics and so on.

“We will monitor not just room air-conditioners and central-air conditioners, but the refrigerants (chemicals used as coolants in air-conditioners) too,” said Abdulla Abdelqadir Al Maeeni, director of ESMA conformity affairs department. “We are also reviewing the situation in existing buildings, which use central air-conditioners and big air-conditioning units as well as duct types.

“Air-conditioning accounts for at least 50% ofelectricity consumption in the UAE,” he added.

While manufacturers of more than 800 construction materials have already obtained optional standards from ESMA, these are not mandatory and will have to be certified by the conformity department of ESMA by 2014.

Some construction materials and sanitary products for water pipelines, like PVC pipes, will have to undergo third-party laboratory tests for conformity with international standards. “Our inspectors will visit local factories to inspect production lines, to ensure that these materials are produced, according to global standards,” Al Maeeni added.

ESMA is also expected to cover retreaded tires, and add big tires used for trucks and heavy construction vehicles within the regulations over the next few months, as per a Zawya report.