I will begin with some slightly boring, but historically important, information about Technical Specifications<\/strong>. Anyone who wishes may skip directly to the present by reading the next section.<\/p>\n The existence of complete and updated standard technical specifications for all sectors of Public Works<\/strong> had long been a standing demand of all stakeholders involved.<\/p>\n The first institutional effort was made in 2002 through the Joint Ministerial Decision DO\/O\/98\/F.1510\/21-10-2002 \u2014 Government Gazette B 1363<\/strong>, issued by the Ministers of YPECHODE and Interior, Public Administration and Decentralisation, establishing two Project Management Groups.<\/p>\n The second Project Management Group was responsible for coordinating and managing the implementation of the section titled \u201cTechnical Specifications and Cost Determination Systems\u201d<\/strong> and operated from late 2002 until early 2006.<\/p>\n In cooperation with the Institute of Construction Economy \u2014 IOK<\/strong>, a total of 440 PETEPs \u2014 Provisional National Technical Specifications<\/strong> were delivered between 2005 and 2006.<\/p>\n The term \u201cprovisional\u201d was used because these specifications required consultation with the remaining stakeholders before being officially institutionalised. Subsequently, the provisional specifications would become standardised technical specifications.<\/p>\n These first PETEPs, coded as XX-XX-XX-XX<\/strong>, were uploaded to the website of the General Secretariat for Public Works, www.ggde.gr<\/a><\/strong>, for further consultation and comments, bearing the watermark \u201cdraft\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n During the period 2006\u20132010, a further 220 PETEP titles<\/strong> were processed.<\/p>\n Although the work of drafting and publishing the first 440 PETEPs had already been completed by 2006, they were never put into force. A considerable period of time was spent discussing how they should be implemented \u2014 through a Ministerial Decision or through ELOT.<\/p>\n Eventually, in 2009, it was decided that the PETEPs would be institutionalised through the procedures of ELOT<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In August 2009, following a contract signed with YPECHODE, ELOT undertook the transformation of PETEPs into ETEPs \u2014 Hellenic Technical Specifications<\/strong>. This involved formatting the texts according to the structure of European Standards \u2014 CEN drafting rules \u2014 and updating the references to the European Standards in force at the time.<\/p>\n The ETEPs would retain the coding of the PETEPs, with the addition of the prefix ELOT TP 1501<\/strong> to the original code XX.XX.XX.XX<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The notification process of the ETEPs to the EU through ELOT was completed, and the EU\u2019s agreement was given in May 2010.<\/p>\n Finally, 440 ETEP titles<\/strong> were approved by decision of the Alternate Minister of Development, Competitiveness, Infrastructure, Transport and Networks and published in Government Gazette 2221 B \/ 30-07-2012<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In 2014 and 2016, the mandatory application of 67 ETEPs<\/strong> was suspended through Ministerial Decisions, and the Ministry recommended the use of the corresponding older PETEPs instead.<\/p>\n Most of these \u2014 70 ETEPs<\/strong> \u2014 returned with new texts in 2019 through Decision D22\/4193\/22.11.2019 \u2014 Government Gazette 4607 B \/ 2019<\/strong> of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.<\/p>\n From 2021 to 2023, ELOT began the revision of the first edition of 314 ETEPs<\/strong>, aiming to check and ensure their compatibility with Union law, the applicable European Standards and, where such standards did not exist, with International Standards, European Regulations and National Legislation, in accordance with Article 42 paragraph 3 of Directive 2014\/24\/EU<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The public consultation took place in four phases and, from December 2022 to March 2024, all ETEPs of the first revision and 18 of the second revision were approved and published in the Government Gazette through three decisions of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.<\/p>\n The validity of these three decisions begins three months after their publication in the Government Gazette.<\/p>\n Road marking and, by extension, the requirements for road marking paints were defined by PETEP 05-04-02-00<\/strong> in May 2006.<\/p>\n The code corresponds to:<\/p>\n On 4 January 2023<\/strong>, during the fourth phase of the revision of the 314 ETEPs, the draft ELOT TP 1501-05-04-02-00:2022<\/strong> was submitted for consultation, with a deadline for comments on 21 February 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The comments and the final text of the standard \/ ETEP were never published. The text appeared only on 26 March 2024<\/strong> in Government Gazette 1890 B \/ 2024<\/strong>, through Decision 70969\/2024<\/strong> of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.<\/p>\n The ETEP, now the standard ELOT TP 1501-05-04-02-00:2023<\/strong>, titled \u201cRoad Marking of Road Works\u201d<\/strong>, states in its foreword that:<\/p>\n \u201cIt was prepared by experts and checked and evaluated by an editor \/ specialist expert in its field, who supported the work of ELOT\/TE99 \u2018Specifications for Technical Works\u2019, whose secretariat is held by the Standardisation Directorate of the Hellenic Organisation for Standardisation \u2014 ELOT.<\/p>\n The text of this Hellenic Technical Specification ELOT TP 1501-03-07-06-01 was approved on 2023-03-24 by ELOT\/TE 99 in accordance with the regulation for the drafting and publication of Hellenic Standards and Specifications.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Obviously, the ETEP number is incorrect and should normally refer to ELOT TP 1501-05-04-02-00<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, the new revision is largely rationalised and introduced improvements, as shown in the tables below.<\/p>\n The requirement for wheel passages was reduced for paints to P6 \u2014 2,000,000 wheel passages<\/strong>.<\/p>\n At the same time, in the performance requirements of the material \u2014 according to EN 1463<\/strong> \u2014 the requirement for measuring the retroreflection coefficient under wet conditions, RLR<\/strong>, was removed. This was a parameter that some laboratories did not measure.<\/p>\n The requirement for the retroreflection coefficient during rain, RLW<\/strong>, was also reduced from RW2<\/strong> to RW1<\/strong>.<\/p>\n However, the most important change was the rationalisation of the high skid resistance requirement from S3<\/strong> to S1<\/strong>, since this was the requirement that most commercial products failed to satisfy.<\/p>\n To explain this briefly for non-specialists: in a road marking paint, in order to achieve a high retroreflection coefficient \u2014 in other words, to be visible at night \u2014 special glass beads are added, reflecting the light from vehicle headlights.<\/p>\n At the same time, in order for a road marking paint to have anti-skid properties, special coarse aggregates are added.<\/p>\n These two additives act competitively within the paint, and it is very difficult to achieve high performance in both parameters at the same time.<\/p>\nThe Case of Road Marking Paints<\/h2>\n
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The First Step Forward<\/h2>\n
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The Second Step Forward<\/h2>\n
Table 1. Requirements Defined per Road Category<\/h2>\n