Practical experiences gathered and technical assessments carried out support that unplasticised (PVC-U), high impact polyvinyl chloride (PVC-Hi) and polyethylene (PE) buried pipes have an expected service lifetime of over 100 years, comfortably exceeding the predicted design point of the common extrapolation method for plastic pipes (ISO9080).

The first European EN standard for oriented unplasticised poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC-O) pipes came out on 17 April 2019, after an extensive four-year development process, initiated by TEPPFA.

EN 17176 PVC-O piping systems for water supply and for buried and above-ground drainage, sewerage and irrigation under pressure, adopted in the 28 EU member states and other 6 member countries, creates a new Europe-wide voluntary standard for those manufacturing PVC-O pipes, where previously there had been a variety of non-aligned national standards.