Introduction

CEN/TC 51 decided in the early eighties to include in ENV 197 only those cements which were intended for use in any plain and reinforced concrete and which were familiar in most countries in Western Europe because they had been produced and used in those countries for many years. This earlier view of CEN/TC 51 was that the more regional cements should continue to be standardized at the national level. The 1989 draft of ENV 197 followed this approach, but did not achieve the majority necessary for acceptance because a few countries wanted to incorporate all their nationally standardized cements and because the EEC Construction Products Directive appeared to require the incorporation of all traditional and well tried cements in order to remove technical barriers to trade in the construction field.