CE Marking for agglomerate stone

As every other product, as of 2010 the agglomerate stone industry has to comply with CE Markings for agglomerate stones, I must add that it's taken too much time to actually see these new rules in the market, as natural stone and the ceramic industry have been complying with CE markings for a while now. It's been a difficult task to provide the agglomerate stone industry with final CE Marking statements due to a conflict of interests between the solid surface industry based on Breton technology and all the other producers. Leading the Committee has been the Italian interest in making tough tolerances for the product, their main effort is to slow down the oriental competition, using the CE Markings as a tough standard to comply with, most International producers would need to invest in equipment and technology to overcome some limitations that they currently have.
As of 2010 the Agglomerated stone - Modular tiles for flooring and stairs (internal and external) have to comply with the CE Marking standards.
The document itself focuses on the following:

• Definition: What is a modular tile? 
• Size and shape: definition of tolerances regarding size and shape
• Surface finish 
• Requirements for flooring and stairs modular tiles made of agglomerated stones: Technical requirements that are defined for the product namely:
• Apparent density and water absorption
• Flexural strength
• Abrasion resistance
• Chemical resistance
• Visual appearance
• Reference sample, visual inspection and acceptance criteria
• Reaction to fire
• Slipperiness
• Thermal conductivity
• Thermal shock resistance
• Tactility/visibility
• Linear thermal expansion coefficient
• Electrical resistivity
• Impact resistance
• Frost resistance
• Dimensional stability

• Marking, labelling and packaging: defines what type of markings and documentation should follow the product
• Evaluation of conformity: defines testing types and frequency and Factory Production Control for the agglomerate stones