Product compliance after Brexit: UKCA and what you need to know

By Andrew Hutton   |   March 17, 2021

As a result of the UK leaving the EU, manufacturers on both sides of the English Channel will need to adapt the way they comply with conformity legislation.

Broadly speaking, from the end of 2021, the CE mark will no longer be recognised in the UK, although there are some exceptions. For example, manufacturers in Northern Ireland must use the new UKCA mark when shipping products into Great Britain (England, Scotland or Wales), but products that carry the CE mark can continue to be sold in Northern Ireland.

Any goods that require mandatory third-party testing must also carry the UK(NI) mark if placed on the Northern Ireland market, but must not display it if they are being sold into an EU market.

Any products that were fully manufactured before December 31st, 2020, can still be sold into UK and EU markets if they carry the CE mark, allowing manufacturers to exhaust existing supplies without incurring additional conformance testing. However, products manufactured after this date are subject to a transition period.

From January 1st, 2022, products that only bear the CE mark will no longer be allowed to be put into service in markets in England, Scotland or Wales. This transition period gives all manufacturers around a year to prepare for these changes.

There will be various dispensations in place during 2021, and manufacturers will need to check those that apply specifically to them, if any. The new sign of compliance will be the UKCA mark (UK Conformity Assessment), which will simply replace the CE mark in most cases, although additional testing and certification may be necessary (see below).

Not all products will be treated the same. For example, the bullet points and timeline below describe how power supplies must use and display the UKCA mark:

• UKCA will recognise and follow/copy the EU directives for power supplies in general
• PSUs are seen as a system component
• Placing a UKCA mark on the product is voluntary until February 1st, 2022
• Products with CE mark on the label can be used until January 1st, 2023
• From January 1st, 2022, the outer transport package and the suppliers’ datasheet must carry the UKCA marking
• From January 1st, 2023, it will be mandatory to place the UKCA mark on the power supply label

Some sectors that are covered by the UKCA mark have been given extra time to comply. Specifically, that includes manufacturers of medical devices but, as the Fire Industry Association has highlighted, it excludes manufacturers of fire and security products.

Although it will be felt by manufacturers outside the UK, this will clearly have an impact on the UK’s manufacturing sector, whether they are selling into the EU or not. All products – even those that are developed, manufactured and only put into service in the UK – will need to comply with new legislation.

The situation is still developing, and some guidance has been issued by the UK government, but more is needed. Many of the notified bodies affected have also issued their own advice, but questions remain unanswered.
 

What we know so far

The UKCA mark is not currently recognised by the EU, which means any products manufactured in Great Britain but put into service in a market within the EU will still need to carry the CE mark. Also, manufacturers will need to have the same level of proof that their products are compliant, in the form of a technical file. As with CE marking, this may mean testing is required.

It also means that UK manufacturers’ technical files will need to now list the relevant UK legislation (not EU legislation) and UK designated standards, rather than standards in the Official Journal of the European Union.

What also seems apparent is that notified bodies for third party assessment within Great Britain are no longer allowed by the EU to issue tests that demonstrate compliance to CE standards. Similarly, no test houses outside of Great Britain are expected to be authorised to provide UKCA testing. This appears to mean that products may need to be tested twice. Initially, the requirements for the two standards are aligned, but it is possible – and probable – that they will diverge in the future.

Manufacturers outside the UK will now need to apply the UKCA mark to any products they or their agents intend to put into service within the UK. This may provide some additional business for UK based test houses. It appears that some test bodies are now offering to issue UKCA test certificates for existing products they have already certified to CE standards without any additional testing, although not necessarily without additional cost.
 

How this affects electronic products

As stated above, there is a good chance that electronic products entering the UK and EU markets will need to be tested by two notified bodies, one that is recognised and authorised to test under UKCA legislation and one that provides testing for CE marking.

As the two test houses cannot physically be located in both the UK and EU, and a UK test house will no longer be a notified body for CE testing, that could mean manufacturers must engage the services of two notified bodies for one product. They may choose to use a provider that has laboratories in both the UK and an EU state, however not all providers will offer that level of coverage, so manufacturers may need to pay for conformance testing twice.

In the future, if the standard supporting the two marks do diverge, manufacturers will be presented with another choice. Do they develop two products that are optimised for each end market, allowing them to meet different standards if necessary, or choose to develop a sub-optimal solution that meets the requirements of both markets but at the cost of optimisation?

The good news is that manufacturers may still self-declare their products as compliant under UKCA legislation. This includes products subject to EMC, radio equipment, low voltage and electrical equipment (safety) regulations. However, while there may be no substantial changes to the way products must comply now, the potential for divergence in the future may still mean testing is advised in the future.
 

Designing for compliance

It is impossible to say how the standards for UKCA and CE compliance may diverge after 2022, or if they will, but it is clearly a possibility. Part of the reason for moving away from the CE mark is to distance the UK from EU legislation, but that also offers the UK the option of expanding, constricting or simply changing the requirements placed on manufacturers.

The vast majority of OEMs producing electrical equipment will now need to apply the UKCA mark, and it is unlikely to expect any products to now be exempt that were subject to CE marking before the end of 2020.

The CE mark and its requirements may no longer apply in the UK, but the statutory instruments used to put those requirements into UK law do; and will continue to do so for some time. For now, the advice seems to be to continue working within the requirements of the CE mark but prepare to re-test for UKCA marking. If you would like further advice or information on the latest power standards and compliance, you can get in touch with our power specialists.

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Andrew Hutton

Andrew joined Avnet Abacus in 2017 with over 20 years' experience working with power products and so...

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