When the UK voted to leave the EU , it effectively voted to remove itself from a vast and complicated web of regulation on everything from working hours to environmental protections .

However , untangling itself from those regulations was always going to be a long and painful process – as our sector almost discovered last year in relation to CE marking .

Crisis averted – for now

As I ’ m sure everyone reading this is aware , for decades , the CE mark has been what indicates whether a product complies with EU health , safety and environmental protection regulations . Now we ’ ve left , we need something to replace it – and that ’ s how the UKCA mark came into being . The UKCA ( UK Conformity Assessed ) mark is designed to cover most of the products that the CE mark currently applies to . It sounds very simple , and in theory it is – replace one standard with another . But in practise , unfortunately , it ’ s anything but .

Each of the tens of millions of products currently covered by the CE mark will have to be retested to comply with the new UKCA standard – a process which , realistically , could take literally years to complete . Given the huge supply chain difficulties the country is grappling with already , having millions of products suddenly declared illegal on January 1st 2022 would ’ ve caused chaos .

Thankfully , after a lot of lobbying from industry groups representing a whole range of different sectors , the government relented , and that scenario was prevented – for now . Ministers have extended the deadline for a year , meaning that to be eligible for sale , all products must have UKCA marking by January 2023 .

Test centres don ’ t spring up from nowhere . Establishing them is a long and complicated process – and I struggle to see how we ’ ll have enough even by next year to allow businesses to comfortably comply with changing standards .

In the UK , for example , we currently don ’ t have a single approved test centre capable of testing IGUs to EN1279 Part 4 or WA17 / 1 for thermal testing .

That ’ s not the only potential problem that concerns me . Sixty percent of the UK ’ s construction imports come from the EU . At the moment , EU suppliers

only need the one certification , the CE mark , to trade both here and in mainland Europe .

From January 2023 , if those businesses want to continue operating in the British market as well as the EU , they ’ ll have to UKCA mark their products too .

‘ Compromising on quality and safety isn ’ t an option ’

The situation is even more complex for Northern Irish businesses . As things currently stand , if they want to service the mainland UK and Irish market as well as their home market they will be required to conform to no less than three standards – the EU ’ s CE mark , the UKCA mark , and the territory ’ s own UKNI mark . Ultimately , the biggest issue is the lack of a Mutual Recognition Agreement between the UK and the EU , which would allow test evidence from Approved Bodies in one region to be accepted in another .

Time for pragmatism

Compromising on quality and safety isn ’ t an option . We need products sold in this country to conform to the very highest standards , and a robust system of certification is vital to ensuring that .

But to deliver and maintain those standards during this period of transition , I think we need to take a pragmatic approach . Safety isn ’ t something that can be rushed .

I think ministers need to be ready to extend the deadline again if it becomes clear that thousands of businesses are going to be unable to meet it – and possibly even be prepared to allow a transitional arrangement where both CE and UKCA marks are valid in the UK for a limited time .

Rather than meeting an arbitrary deadline , I think the most important thing is that we get the UK ’ s post-Brexit accreditation regime right – and ensure that millions of products don ’ t compromise on the vital standards that keep consumers safe .

www . edgetechig . co . uk

66 FEBRUARY 2022

CLEARVIEW-UK . COM