The United Kingdom Conformity Assessed (UKCA) marking is a new product marking that will soon be mandatory for products sold on the market in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland).
Since leaving the EU in March this year, the UK has been in a transition period which means it has still been part of the EU single market and will be until 31st December 2020. However, from 1st January 2021, the UKCA mark will replace CE marking on products in Great Britain.
To give businesses time to make the required changes to meet UKCA conformity, in most cases the CE marking will still be accepted until 1st January 2022.
It is the manufacturers or associated representative that is responsible for implementing the changeover, and they are encouraged to do so as soon as possible after 1st January 2021. There are also legal responsibilities for UK distributors and suppliers.
If you have a product that required a CE mark, it is likely you will be affected. There are also special rules for certain product categories, so for guidance on whether or not your business will need to use the new marking and how to use it, please visit the government’s guidance on using the UKCA marking.
If you’re a Northern Ireland business, you’ll still be able to place qualifying Northern Ireland goods on the GB market with an EU conformity assessment marking, such as the CE marking, after 31 December 2021. More information from the Government on placing manufactured goods on the market in Great Britain from 1 January 2021 can be found here.
Conformity assessment will need to be carried out by a UK conformity assessment body (please note that Auva Certification does not provide this service). Further information on this can be found on the UKAS website
