Until the ruling was published in July 2006, there was confusion and individual countries relied on own guidelines. Now, however, with final publication of EN14904 there is a greater level of consistency across Europe and clear definition of the safety and performance standards required for point, area, mixed and combined elastic sports floors.

She says: “EN14904 clearly defines acceptable sporting characteristics for force reduction, vertical deformation, grip and slip performance expressed as a coefficient of friction, ball bounce as well as technical characteristics including resistance to indentation, rolling loads, impact and abrasion and other factors which affect the long term performance of a sports floor. This is all good news for operators and reputable manufacturers such as Gerflor who can produce independent certification to prove their products compliance with the new standard.”

Local standards will be allowed until July 2008 and sporting federations and other funding bodies are able to set higher specifications than EN14904. “Our Taraflex range of sports floors have been fully tested to the EN14904 standards and meet or exceed all the minimum standards required.” she adds.

Over 30 million m2 of Gerflor's brand-leading Taraflex Sports Flooring has been installed worldwide and it is used by over five million people every day. “The Taraflex range is a winning combination of a high performance sports flooring and a low maintenance cost solution provider,” she adds.