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New safety mark replacement could cost UK manufacturers millions

Published: 5 February 2019 - Fiona Garcia
UKCA mark in the February 2 Government UKWA no-deal guidance paper
UKCA mark in the February 2 Government UKWA no-deal guidance paper

A new UK safety mark designed to replace the EU’s ubiquitous CE mark, following a no-deal Brexit will cost British manufacturers and exporters millions of pounds in product stamping, testing and red tape.

The warning comes from international courier Parcel Hero, who says the Government’s plans for a new ‘UKCA’ mark to replace the European Union’s CE safety mark, in the event of a hard Brexit, will cost UK manufacturers millions of pounds in new product branding, packaging and bureaucracy.

Currently a large number of products manufactured or distributed in the UK and the rest of the EU are required to carry the EU’s CE mark, from toys and kettles to medical implants and hot water boilers; this shows they meet EU legal requirements. Now Parcel Hero warns the Government’s new United Kingdom Conformity Assessed (UKCA) logo will need to be displayed on many such items sold in the UK, but that British manufactured products will still need to be CE approved for sale in the EU, post a no-deal Brexit.

Parcel Hero head of consumer research David Jinks MILT said: “In the future, many products will need to have packaging, marketing and stamping changed to show they meet UKCA regulations, in case UK and EU regulations start to diverge.”

He cautioned: “It gets worse. As well as new products being required to meet UKCA regulations, after March 29, 2019 the results of conformity assessment test carried out by UK conformity assessment bodies will no longer be recognised in the EU. UKCA passed products won’t be able to be placed on the EU market without re-assessment by EU bodies. The very idea that British-made goods may have to meet two sets of safety regulations is clearly a huge black mark against no deal Brexit plans.

“The new UKCA mark is surely a huge question mark hanging over the Government’s no deal Brexit plans. In its latest guidance the Government is saying post a no-deal Brexit some CE marked products will still be legally recognised in the UK, but if a product requires third party assessment of conformity, and if this has been carried out by a UK conformity assessment body, you will have to apply the new UKCA marking after 29 March 2019.”

Parcel Hero believes UK manufacturers and exporters are facing a nightmare of product changes and ballooning red tape, as EU and UK safety regulations start to separate.

Mr Jinks concluded: “The only new mark British exporters need to see now is a punctuation mark: a full stop to the possibility of a no deal Brexit.”

For more details of the costs and challenges facing the UK’s exporters post-Brexit see Parcel Hero’s report: Revealed – the True Cost of Brexit: www.parcelhero.com/blog/news-updates/revealed-the-true-cost-of-brexit

 

Comments

08 February 2019 14:10:50
Robert Millien

All very true.

Reminds me of all the horror stories about what would happen on 1st January 2000. What happened? Nothing!!!

05 February 2019 17:22:41
Gel

Some misconceptions here. For some time many EU Countries refuse to accept UK Conformity Tests and insist manufacturers get retested in their country so defeating one of the original reasons for so called Conformity of Standards testing across the EU. I've been involved with Building & Electrical product product approvals for many years and when "Conformity" was first implemented it sounded too good to be true; it was!

On fire testing for roofing materials we shipped into the EU, the French (not unsurprisingly) stated they wouldn't accept UK testing, as they had different sorts of fires there allegedly. 
Never the less the UK would automatically rubber stamp their testing.
In the end we decided it wasn't worth the expense & delays (to product launching) to test in UK, but just go to French Approval testing at a considerably higher price than in UK.

Initially too the Germans behaved, but soon they were insisted that apart from BSI approval (for electrical products) , they needed local TUV approval too, as BS Testing against the EU Product Standard wasn't "sufficient".
In the main, apart from the few products caught under the CPD scheme, the CE mark is purely a  self assessment scheme as many know.
Many of us have always referred to CE as "Con Everyone"!

Me thinks another Project Fear story.


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