Two principles determine the need for such threshold levels to be fixed in technical specifications. Firstly, there may be levels for certain performance characteristics below which a construction product cannot under any circumstances be considered fit for a specific intended use. Secondly, threshold levels of product performance may be necessary to ensure that unsafe, or otherwise dangerous or unfit, products cannot achieve the CE marking, and hence be placed on the EEA market, simply by the producer declaring a very low performance for all of the required characteristics. These levels would provide a minimum performance threshold for the European market, without removing the possibility for Member States to fix more stringent levels for specific intended uses where appropriate (see chapter 5).
