Following the end of the UK-EU transition period on 31 December 2020, the UK government introduced the UK conformity assessed regime, and the UKCA marking, to regulate manufactured products to be placed on the market in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). The UKCA mark means that the product has been assessed to meet safety, health, and environmental protection requirements. This marking is required for certain manufactured products on the market in Great Britain.
The original intention was to replace the EU CE marking regime with the UKCA marking but, to allow businesses time to adjust, the government introduced a transition period to enable CE marked goods that met EU product safety requirements to continue to be placed on the market in Great Britain. That transition period, which had already been extended, was due to expire on 31 December 2024.
However, businesses will now be able to continue to use either UKCA or CE marks as they see fit, as the Product Safety and Metrology etc (Amendment) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/696) (the Regulations) will come into force on 1 October 2024. The Regulations enable the use of the EU's CE marking to continue indefinitely on certain goods placed on the market in Great Britain by removing the end of 2024 expiry date for recognition CE marking on these goods, effectively meaning CE marks will continue to be recognised indefinitely, or unless and until the law changes again.
The Regulations do not apply to medical devices, construction products, marine equipment, rail products, cableways, transportable pressure equipment and unmanned aircraft systems where sector-specific arrangements apply. We have a useful factsheet on UKCA Marking providing a lot more detail on this topic available on the FSB Legal Hub.