In August 2013, the German National Institute for Standardization DIN published three national standards for industrially-produced earth building materials without the use of chemical stabilizers:
DIN 18945 Earth blocks definitions, building materials, requirements, test procedures DIN 18946 Earth masonry mortars definitions, building materials, requirements, test procedures DIN 18947 Earth plaster mortars definitions, building materials, requirements, test procedures The development of these standards was initiated by the Dachverband Lehm e.V. (DVL), the German umbrella organisation for building with earth. These standards are in accordance with the requirements of the EU Regulation No. 305/2011 which came into force in Germany on 1 July 2013. These basic requirements introduce provisions relating not only to the safety of buildings and other construction works but also to health, durability, energy economy, protection of the environment and other important aspects in the public interest. The basic requirements are defined by essential characteristics expressed by levels or classes, or in a description. The relevant essential characteristics define the performance of the construction product.
The DIN 18945, 46 and 47 outline unified test procedures describing the relevant essential characteristics of the earth building products as well as systems for assessing and verifying the constancy of their performance. The relevant systems of verification are determined by a national Technical Assessment Body (TAB), which in Germany is the Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik DIBt.
Today, building is a complicated commercial process characterised by legalised agreements between all participants. For commercial building projects, all materials and constructions have to conform to building standards and regulations. Material properties must be reproducible in standardised test procedures. This also applies for the control of the quality of production of earth building materials and constructions. Building conservation is a part of this process. Generally, national building standards have to reflect the current situation of building materials / construction systems of that country for which they have been developed.