British firms are set to take Germany to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg after it announced that it intended to retain its own product standards.
Under the European construction products directive, all member states must comply with European standards by 1 March. Germany told the committee on Monday that it was unhappy with a number of aspects of the deal.

A Construction Products Association spokesperson said Germany took the view that unless the European standard was revised it would set up its own from 1 March.

He said: "British construction manufacturers are ready to take Germany to court unless they accept the European standards."

He said Germany would not permit the purchase of products from other countries that did not meet the standards to be used in Germany.

He added that the European Commission has told Germany that it is acting illegally and threatened to take it to court unless it complies.