Introducing UKCA marking

From 1 January 2020 the UKCA ( UK Conformity Assessed ) marking will be used for goods being placed on the market in Great Britain ( England , Wales and Scotland ). Northern Ireland will be able to continue using the CE mark or use the CE + UKNI mark due to the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol .

One question being asked not just in the ironmongery industry , but also the wider construction industry is – are we ready for CE marking to be phased out at the end of 2021 ? The answer to this appears to be “ no ”.

Industry calls for extension to transition period

When discussing this with Graham Hulland , product marketing manager at dormakaba and GAI Technical Committee member , he stated the following :

“ The UKCA mark is causing issues for ourselves in terms of implementation . The requirements are clear

in terms of mirroring CE marking ; however the delay in agreement with MHCLG , UKAS and Approved Bodies has taken five months to agree and implement .

“ With the Approved Bodies now being inundated with work to provide Certification to manufacturers such as ourselves , we believe obtaining the Certification for UKCA Marking will take at least three months . Once we have this , we then have to apply the UKCA to product , packaging and installation instructions . This takes time with tooling needed on products for the UKCA and with a product portfolio of over 4,000 affected products , four months is not sufficient time to implement the requirements into production , manufacture and ship into the UK for January 1 2022 .

“ We believe the delay in clarifying the requirements justify an extension to the transition period and that 1 January 2023 for mandatory

UKCA Marking is more realistic for producers .”

This response reflects the sentiments of many of our GAI members . As we rapidly approach the autumn , we have a very short space of time to make ourselves ready as an industry for this change .

Construction Product Association supports delay to implementation

We are not alone in this thinking either . Peter Caplehorn , chief executive of Construction Product Association ( CPA ), recently stated in Building magazine that switching to the new certifications has been “ immensely complicated ” and admitted the changeover was now “ in a bit of trouble ”.

So concerned is he by the issue , he said there was an argument for the UK to unilaterally extend the transition period for CE marking ’ s co-existence beyond the end of this year and he has already raised the

issue in a meeting with UK construction minister Anne- Marie Trevelyan . He said that Trevelyan did not comment on the detail of his concerns but told him that her team would look into the points raised .

GAI lobbies Government on behalf of architectural ironmongers

At the GAI , we continue to make our members views heard on these matters . We are represented in both the Construction Leadership Council ( CLC ) Product Standards and Regulatory Alignment Group and the BSI Trade and Regulation Forum . Both these groups debate the impact of Brexit and UKCA marking on the construction industry and also provide the opportunity to put views directly to Government .

We will continue to lobby on our members ’ behalf to extend the co-existence date beyond the end of 2021 . This will give industry a chance to properly prepare for such a major change in product marking which will have a huge impact on the entire construction industry .

Further detail on UKCA marking can be found in the GAI Specifiers Guide to UKCA marking available on the GAI website : www . gai . org . uk / GAISpecGuides