1st Croatian Conference on Earthquake Engineering 1CroCEE 2021

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission is engaged in activities supporting the implementation, further development and promotion of European policies and standards for sustainable construction. Such activities include the Eurocodes (EN 1990 – EN 1999), the European Standards providing common rules for the design of buildings and other construction works to check their strength and stability. Among the countries that have shown strong commitment and progress in the adoption of the Eurocodes are the non-EU Balkan countries. In the period 2013-2016, the JRC, within the Enlargement and Integration (E&I) Action, has organized specialized dissemination and training events to support the adoption and implementation of the Eurocodes in the region. A roadmap for continuing the activities was elaborated in 2016 anticipating technical assistance at implementation, practical use and maintenance level. A workshop in Tirana (2018) focused on the implementation level in the National Regulatory Framework (NRF). It was shown that significant progress has been achieved by all non-EU countries in the Balkan region in the adoption of the Eurocodes since 2016. However, there was still lack of sufficient coordination between the National Authorities and the National Standardization Bodies on the implementation of the Eurocodes. Due to the high seismicity of the Balkan region, most non-EU countries in the region are close to, or are intending to, formally adopt EN 1998 (“Eurocode 8: Design of structures for earthquake resistance”). JRC plans to provide technical assistance for the Eurocode 8implementation by the practitioners, addressing the seismic design of concrete buildings through a Eurocodes Balkan Summer School. The paper provides an overview of the JRC Eurocodes training activities held and planned for the Balkan region, along with an update on the Eurocodes implementation status.