CARES Certificates Explained

The outcome of a satisfactory assessment by CARES is the issue of a CARES Certificate of Approval. The scope of the certification as described by the Certificate of Approval is highly significant and important. CARES does not issue general certificates of approval and each CARES certificate has a closely defined scope of approval:

Each certificate of approval states:

• The name of the company
• The factory to which the successful assessment applies
• The products or services covered by the approval, including:
  - product standards and/or CARES assessment schedule,
  - processes/products/size range

When verifying that a product is CARES approved it is important to ensure that the product type, process and size are included on the certificate and that the certificate is of the relevant type.

CARES issues six different certificate types:

• Management System Certification
• Product Conformity Certification
• Product Installation Certification
  This type of certificate is for specialist post-tensioning contractors and covers the installation of post-tensioning systems. In addition to the general information, the Product Installation Certificate includes:
  - The relevant CARES Assessment schedule, which denotes the type of post-tensioning: slabs, highway structures or remedial grouting
  - The type of post-tensioning system (internal/external/bar systems, bonded or unbonded)
  - The name of the post-tensioning to be installed
• Technical Approval Certification
  This type of product certification is for non-standard products. The certification comprises two parts:
  - The Technical Approval Report which contains all the relevant product details, including limitations on use and installation requirements. The technical approval report refers to the supporting Technical Approval Certificate
  - The Technical Approval Certificate is issued annually after successful regular surveillance inspections and periodic product testing. The Technical Approval Report is invalid if not supported by a current Technical Approval Certificate
• Sustainable Reinforcing Steel Certification
• Construction Products Directive certification
  There are two certificates which may be issued by CARES in this area, depending on the applicable system of attestation required by the technical specification for the product;those relating to factory production control certification and those relating to product certification.
  - A certificate of Factory Production
  - An EU Certificate of Conformity

Either of these certificates will enable the manufacturer of the construction product to apply the CE marking to his product, paperwork etc according to the requirements defined in Annex ZA of the particular harmonised technical specification.