Premise
GB = Great Britain = England + Wales + Scotland
UK = United Kingdom = GB + Northern Ireland (NI)
On 1st January 2021, the UK will officially exit the EU
What does it mean?
The Notified Bodies (NB) headquartered in the UK will lose their status of Notified Bodies (they will no longer be listed in the NANDO database) and the related CE Certificates will no longer be valid. For this reason, most of the CE Certificates issued by British Notified Bodies have been transferred under the responsibility of European Notified Bodies: this allows safeguarding their validity even after the 1st January 2021, and they can continue to be used to sell products not only in the EU, but also in the UK throughout 2021.
If the CE Certificates are not transferred to European NB, starting from January 1st 2021 the products covered by Certificates issued by British NB will need to have the UKCA (= UK Conformity Assessment) Marking to be sold within the GB. The UKCA Marking can be placed instead of or next to the CE Marking: this is possible because the British NB have been automatically appointed for this purpose by the British government.
Note: This concerns only the British market, not that of the whole UK, as different laws apply in Northern Ireland. NI will be the only UK country where it will be possible to continue to sell products either with the CE or the UKCA Marking.
Throughout 2021, it will be possible to place on the GB market products covered by CE Certificates issued by European Notified Bodies like.
Therefore, the UKCA Marking is to be possibly arranged for products that will be placed on the GB market starting from 2022. The UK NBs that will expire on January 1st, have already been automatically appointed by the British government and they will be the only ones able to issuing the UKCA Certificates.
Information about the new UKCA system are still undefined, but up to now it appears as the exact copy of the CE one:
- the European Technical Standards “Harmonized Standards” will remain the technical base of the UKCA Certification, but they will formally assume the name of “Designated Standards”;
- the British “Notified Bodies” will be called “Approved Bodies”.
This new system remains thus the same of the current CE system, but it will for sure constitute another entry barrier from a formal/bureaucratic point of view, given that starting from 2022 products will need to carry the UKCA Marking to be sold in Great Britain (a Marking that can be released only by the “Approved Bodies” headquartered in the United Kingdom).
Other notes on the legal situation
- the new UK legislation: “UK 2019 SI 696 Schedule 35 Regulation 38”; this will initially mirror the PPE Regulation (EU) 2016/425, but there could be future divergences;
- there will be a UK website equivalent to the NANDO showing a list of the UK Approved Bodies;
- with regard to the trading of goods between the UE and the UK, “Distributors” will become “Importers”;
- products can carry both Markings, but the validity of the CE Marking will not be recognized in the UK, whereas the UKCA Marking will not be valid in the EU.
Dates
- 2021: products carrying the CE Marking can be placed on the GB market;
- starting from the 1st January 2022: only products carrying the UKCA Marking can be placed on the GB market;
- from 1st January to 31st December 2022: throughout this year it is possible to place the UKCA Marking on the packaging (for instance as a sticker), instead of placing it directly on the product;
- starting from 1st January 2023: only products carrying the UKCA Marking can be placed on the British market. It will be mandatory to place the UKCA Marking directly on the product (unless technically impossible, as it is according to the current CE Regulation).
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