1. Regulatory context

In France, fire risk in buildings is governed by regulations issued by various ministries. They are divided into two groups:

• the requirements, generally descriptive, that building materials and components used in the construction of a building must meet in order to limit fire-related risks to an acceptable level;

• the methods used to justify that these building materials and components do, in fact, offer the required level of performance.

When it comes to the fire behavior of building materials and components, there are two main concepts (see § 1.2