National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of EN 113‑3:2023. It supersedes DD ENV 12038:2002, which is withdrawn.

BSI, as a member of CEN, is obliged to publish EN 113‑3:2023 as a British Standard. However, attention is drawn to the fact that during the development of this European Standard, the UK committee voted against its approval.

The UK committee voted against approval for the following reasons:

• The UK committee’s opinion is that the content of a board that is not degradable by wood decaying could erroneously affect the classification of durability, particularly when the relative proportion of this content is high. The committee believes mass loss should be calculated on the basis of lignocellulosic content for the purposes of assigning a durability class. They also believe that moisture contents should also be calculated on the basis of lignocellulosic content.
• Unlike EN 113‑1:2020 and EN 113‑2:2020, there is no rejection of samples that have become too wet for decay to develop (waterlogged samples).
• The UK committee considers the use of 3 samples for the assessment of variation (Annex F) to be inconsistent with EN 113‑2:2020 due to the lower total number of samples used in EN 113‑3:2023. The result is that a considerably higher percent variation may be permitted in this standard before it is recorded in the durability classification.

The UK committee also considers the possibility of expressing variable durability as both a range and using the suffix “v”, as described in Annex F, to be potentially misleading. Where in accordance with this standard it is possible to express durability as both a range of durability classes and by using the suffix “v”, it is the opinion of the UK committee that only the range should be used.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee B/515, Wood preservation.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 28 February 2023.

Amendments/corrigenda issued since publication

Date	Text affected

BS EN 113-3:2023

Durability of wood and wood-based products. Test method against wood destroying basidiomycetes - Assessment of durability of wood-based panels

Current

Published:

28 Feb 2023