Standardisation and Norms – what is RAL?
In 1925, the German industry and the government made a joint decision to define technical standards.
A national institution for “Lieferbedinungen“ (delivery terms) was founded, which produced the RAL-Quality Label (in combination with the RAL-Quality Monitoring System).
There are quality labels for various domains (paint, windows, pipes, environment “Blue Angel“)
RAL-GZ 944 – Artificial Turf Systems for Outside Sports Facilities
The products are tested according to the existing standards (EN 15330-1, DIN 18035) – additional tests of materials and services are defined in the RAL-system according to the requirements of the market and the customers.
The RAL-Quality Assurance not only tests the synthetic turf surface itself, but the entire structure of the flooring system. All installed products are spot-checked on site using random sampling tests.
You can obtain the RAL publications 944 directly from Beuth Verlag:
Beuth Verlag GmbH
Burggrafenstraße 6
10787 Berlin
T +49 (0) 30 / 26 01-0
F +49 (0) 30 / 26 01-12 60
M
www.beuth.de
For written orders, it is sufficient to specify the desired RAL number.
You can also order the documents online from Beuth-Verlag:
RAL-GZ 943 – Plastic Flooring for Outdoor Sports Facilities
Products are tested according to existing standards (EN 14877, DIN 18035) – The RAL Quality Assurance not only encompasses the plastic surface itself, but the entire structure of the flooring system is subject to testing.
A clear product differentiation is facilitated. This significantly minimses the client’s risk. Besides the performance, the documents, construction, installation, and materials including their product identdification are tested annually (Quality Proof).
You can obtain the RAL publications 9434 directly from Beuth Verlag:
Beuth Verlag GmbH
Burggrafenstraße 6
10787 Berlin
T +49 (0) 30 / 26 01-0
F +49 (0) 30 / 26 01-12 60
M
www.beuth.de
For written orders, it is sufficient to specify the desired RAL number.
You can also order the documents online from Beuth-Verlag:
Complex requirements for flooring as a piece of sports equipment
Sports flooring constitutes a highly complex system which has to meet high requirements regarding both the material and design.
The keywords here are sports function and safety fuction. The safety function requires a high degree of resilience, the sports function, on the other hand, requires a minimum loss of energy. These nearly contrasting requirements are to be considered with the design, choice of material and evaluation.
Who formulates the requirements?
The requirements are defined by the RAL-Quality Assurance Association. The RAL-Quality Assurance Association comprises representatives of the public sector and the consumers, universities and research institutes, producers and other groupings interested in certification.
Checks are conducted by the Quality Inspection.
What is the difference between norms, standards and legal requirements?
The RAL-Quality Labels make use of European and national standards. However, they have committed themselves to go beyond the scope of these requirements:
- They safeguard quality under the competitive constraints of the market
- They thus represent added benefit for the consumers
RAL-Quality Labels can be used without reservations for public tendering procedures to define the standards for the requested products. The formulation of the quality requirements by means of a RAL-Quality Label can be demanded independently from national or European standards.
