Wednesday, June 23, 2010

IG Certification Requirement Takes Hold July 1

On July 1, 2010, the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) will begin enforcing the requirement for Insulating Glass (IG) certification by a listed, third-party certification program for all IGU’s used in products that are authorized for NFRC certification and labeled in accordance with the NFRC 700“Product Certification Program (PCP).”

NFRC maintains the IGC directory of participating insulating glass certification programs which are authorized to provide third party insulating glass certification services in accordance with NFRC 706, “Requirements for participating Insulating Glass Certification Programs.” The listing of the IGC Programs is posted on the NFRC website at
http://www.nfrc.org/IGCertification.aspx.

What are the requirements?

NFRC recommends that NFRC participating manufacturers contact one of the listed IGC Programs to obtain a copy of the IG Certification program requirements and discuss their options, ensuring that their insulating glass units are authorized for certification by the deadline date of July 1, 2010.

Manufacturers who purchase their insulating glass units are encouraged to contact their insulating glass manufacturer supplier to determine if their IGU’s are presently authorized for certification through one of the listed IGC Programs or advise them of the new requirements to ensure compliance with the NFRC 700, “Product Certification Program.”

What does it mean to Program Participants?

As discussed by NFRC, the Board of Directors, and membership it was recommended that participating manufacturers start their IG certification process to meet these requirements when NFRC first announced this program in February of 2009. This recommendation is because the minimum estimated time period to complete the IGU testing and certification process is approximately 21 to 26 weeks.

NFRC does have a program in place to address those hardship cases where program participants may not be able to meet these requirements by July 1, 2010 due to unknown or unforeseen circumstances. If any program participant meets these circumstances they should submit a Request for IGC Extension form to NFRC Staff, which must be properly filled out and will be reviewed by the Certification Policy Committee (CPC) and the NFRC Executive Committee. The Request for IGC Extension Form is posted on the NFRC website at www.nfrc.org/ExemptionRequests.aspx.

If there are any questions regarding this information, please feel free to contact the NFRC office (301-589-1776).