Assessment
Fire behavior verification for LED screens
- Short overview of legal requirements
Verification management
The following section provides a brief overview of the situation regarding the issue of verification in Germany:
The following overview is a short summary and does not claim to be exhaustive.
In particular, further legal specifications of the respective valid state building regulations must be observed for your building project with the involvement of an expert for preventive fire protection.
The following description makes specific reference to the model building regulations passed by the Conference of Building Ministers. Please check your valid building regulations for the specifics of the respective paragraphs mentioned here . State building regulations. The paragraphs mentioned here are almost the same in the respective state building regulations.
Similar conditions also apply in other countries, such as Austria and Switzerland.
Wie sie here LED screens are building products and have an impact on the performance of the building.
In Germany, construction products are subject to requirements for the correct verification and testing of the warranted characteristics of fire behavior or statics, etc..
The following section exclusively describes the situation in Germany and deliberately refers to the requirements of the Model Building Code (MBO). The contents of the MBO have been adopted almost identically in the respective state building regulations of your federal state. Please refer exclusively to the current version of your state building regulations.
For the sake of simplicity, the following explanations are summarized (MBO third section on construction products).
This means that after §16c MBO building products are used if they have a CE marking in accordance with EU Regulation 305/2011 carry. This regulation governs construction products for which a relevant harmonized European standard exists. There is no relevant harmonized European standard for an LED screen according to the above-mentioned European regulation.
This means that after §17 Bauprodukte verwendet werden wenn sie einen sogenannten Proof of usability §18-20 MBO have. This certification is provided for construction products that are not a type of construction. Nach §2 MBO a “ construction type” is the assembly of building products. LED screens are therefore a type of construction, as they consist of many different components.
In Germany, the regulations according to §16a Bauarten apply.
The correct verification for LED screens therefore requires General type certifications or Project-related design approvals of the highest building supervisory authority in your country.
Since in practice there are still no type approvals of this kind for LED screens, specialist planners for preventive fire protection often try to create analogies or assessments of the situation and the place of use. However, this approach carries great risks for the specialist planner for preventive fire protection, the building owner and also for the responsible lower building supervisory authority as, unfortunately, approval is often demanded from the lower building authority via adventurous fire protection concepts. These agreements and these concepts represent an enormous legal risk for all those involved in construction.
For construction products, the legislator has deliberately anchored such an inspection system in the state building regulations as construction products must absolutely and absolutely comply with the applicable requirements. Similar to the inspection of a structural design by a structural engineer, the legislator wants to ensure that the products used actually have the warranted properties.
There are currently no corresponding products with an ABZ or ABG available on the market so that a project-related type approval only creates legal certainty for all parties involved.
In areas where higher protection standards for fire behavior are needed, in particular, all other methods, such as analogies in fire protection concepts this represents an enormous risk for those involved in construction.
Problems with issuing fire protection concepts and approval from the lower building authority or fire department: liability risk or fine!
The approval of a fire protection concept by the lower building authority or the fire protection authority without verification of the LED screen could mean that an LED screen may be used without an ABZ / ABG. Only the supreme building authority may grant permission to use a ZIE or project-related building type approval! If the lower building supervisory authority implies otherwise, this represents a legal risk for the executing official.
The supreme building control authority can impose a fine of up to €500,000 on the building owner, the specialist planner for preventive fire protection or the contractor carrying out the work in accordance with Section 84 MBO.
Nevertheless, we are happy to advise you on your building project and the correct verification procedure and are the only company on the market to offer an LED screen product that is classified as completely non-combustible. Find here weitergehende Informationen.
Read more here further on myths, errors and incorrect beliefs about fire protection concepts.
The content presented here does not constitute binding legal advice. The exact circumstances depend on the respective installation situation of your building project. The information provided here is based on legislation and the speaker's experience of project-related construction projects and describes the situation in Germany.
Author: Tobias Kick, expert for LED screens and preventive fire protection, 25.05.2025
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