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This buying guide helps clients, designers and procurement teams identify the publication set and questions to resolve before ordering. It does not provide design calculations or select safety factors.
Check the current part designation
The published Genorma record reviewed on 7 October 2026 is EN 1990-1:2023+A1:2026, for new structures. BSI lists its corresponding adoption as current. Genorma also shows a further amendment project in development; a draft is not included merely because it appears beside the published record. Genorma record; BSI catalogue.
A contract referring simply to “EN 1990” may describe a different established baseline. Ask the responsible designer to identify the intended part, generation and amendment set before replacing a document already named in the project.
Choose a coherent design document set
The published scope addresses the structural and geotechnical design basis, including safety, serviceability, robustness and durability, and its use with other Eurocodes. It also refers to the separate existing-structures provisions in EN 1990-2. A new-building brief and an assessment of an existing structure therefore need different scope questions. Source: Genorma scope.
| Area | Question for the responsible designer |
|---|---|
| Design basis | Which EN 1990 part and generation is agreed? |
| Actions and materials | Which companion Eurocode parts form a compatible project set? |
| National choices | Which national implementation and parameters apply to the works? |
| Existing structures | Does the task require the existing-structures assessment provisions? |
Use the Eurocodes family guide for the wider map.
National Annexes and project generation
The Commission’s JRC explains that Nationally Determined Parameters provide national choices for works in the country concerned. Check the relevant national publication and Annex or other stated national implementation information. Do not assume an Annex prepared for a different edition can be combined with the selected text without review. JRC national-parameter guidance.
The JRC second-generation page describes the publication programme. Programme dates do not, on their own, answer which generation a particular contract or authority accepts. Resolve that at project level and document the decision before calculations begin.
Prepare a design-basis procurement record
Ask for a short register connecting the works location and design task to the selected standards. It should be understandable to the reviewer as well as the person ordering the publications.
- Project identity: what is being designed or assessed, and is it new work, an alteration or an existing-structure review?
- Agreed references: which complete part numbers, editions, amendments and corrections are selected?
- National context: which national choices and supporting provisions does the designer intend to use?
- Interfaces: do geotechnical, structural, specialist and software outputs use the same agreed basis?
- Change control: who approves a later document update and checks its effect on existing calculations?
This is an original purchasing framework. The licensed documents and competent design team determine the engineering requirements. A software package’s default setting should be checked against the agreed register rather than treated as the project specification.
A fictional cross-border design commission
A consultant prepares a design using a familiar Eurocode library while the client’s specification names a newer generation. The works are in another country, and a subcontractor has used a different national parameter set.
The client requests an agreed design-basis register before commissioning further calculations. The responsible designer resolves the generation, compatible parts and national context, then identifies the publications each team needs. Existing calculations are reviewed against that decision rather than having their references edited cosmetically.
The purchasing decision is to obtain the coherent document set after those questions are resolved. This example is fictional and does not approve a design or prescribe a transition date.
Buy the selected publication
The link below is the published new-structures part identified above. Confirm that it fits the agreed project basis, and check language, format, national documents and user licence with the seller. Genorma confirms the final checkout price.
Frequently asked questions
Is the newest part automatically required for every project?
No such universal conclusion follows from publication. Confirm the governing project and national arrangements.
Can we mix Eurocode generations?
Do not do so without a justified compatibility review by the responsible designer. Record the actual document set.
Is the main European text the whole national design basis?
Check the relevant national choices and implementation information as well as the European publication.
Primary sources checked on 7 October 2026. Use the licensed documents and competent engineering input for design decisions.
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