THE GOVERNMENT has announced a range of changes designed to make it simpler for businesses operating in the fire safety space to apply new product conformity markings for most products placed on the market in England, Scotland and Wales.

The UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) mark is a mandatory mark issued on certain products to indicate that they conform to Great Britain-centric legislation. Businesses have until 1 January 2023 to start using UKCA marking, in fact, which replaces the CE and reverse epsilon markings now that the UK has left the European Union.

In essence, the UKCA marking allows the UK to have control over its goods regulations and maintain high product standards going forward. Some of the product categories impacted are electrical and electronics-based solutions/systems, equipment for explosive atmospheres, gas appliances, PPE, cableways and construction products.

To make it simpler for businesses to adopt UKCA marking, the Government has today brought forward the following measures.

Any conformity assessment activities undertaken by European Union (EU) bodies before the end of 2022 will be considered as the basis for UKCA marking next year. Legislation on this will be brought forward before the end of 2022 and will enable manufacturers to apply the UKCA mark on these products without the need for re-testing.

Removing the need to re-test existing imported stock

This move will allow CE-marked products that are manufactured overseas and imported into the UK by the end of 2022 to be sold without the need for meeting UKCA mark requirements. This will remove the current need for retesting and recertification of products that are imported while the UK-recognised CE marking requirements are in place.

Continuing to accept spare parts in the Great Britain marketplace

The UK will continue to accept spares in the Great Britain marketplace which comply with the same requirements that were in place at the time the original products or systems they were being used to repair, replace or maintain were placed on the market. This decision will help to address concerns about the availability of spare parts and also ensure businesses and organisations avoid disruption to their operations.

To make it cheaper and logistically easier for businesses to continue to supply goods to Great Britain, legislation will be brought forward to extend current labelling easements to allow important information and other UKCA markings to be added to products using a sticky label or an accompanying document.

Recognising historic testing on some construction products

Manufacturers of construction products under AVCP System 3 whose products are tested by an EU notified body before 1 January 2023 will be able to obtain a UKCA mark without having to retest through a UK-approved body.