The United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union on 31 January 2020 has created significant changes to the marking of products offered for sale within the UK.

Whilst a transition period was in place until 31 December 2020, as of 1 January 2021 the new system took effect. With regard to product marking, this change means that the old European ‘CE’ marking system shall no longer be valid and is to be replaced with a new ‘UKCA’ mark.

In order to provide time for manufacturers to adapt to the change, throughout 2021 products for sale within Great Britain can be marked with either, or both, the CE and the UKCA mark. However, from 1 January 2022, products for sale within Great Britain must be marked with the new UKCA mark.

A CE mark means that a product complies with all relevant EU regulations. In contrast, a UKCA mark means that a product complies with all relevant UK regulations. Whilst these regulations are currently identical due to the ‘Great Repeal Bill’ of 2018, which had the effect of writing EU law into UK law, this does not guarantee that these regulations will remain aligned over time and therefore may diverge.

Please be aware that Northern Ireland, due to its special status within the agreement, currently has its own UKNI mark.

For further information please see the government’s website:
www.gov.uk/guidance/using-the-ukca-marking

In addition, a useful webinar on the subject, as produced by the British Standards Institution, can be found here:
https://page.bsigroup.com/l/73472/2021-02-03/ypqkl6