New guidance issued by the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy means manufacturers and distributers can breath a bit of a sigh of release, but problems and a lack of clarity still prevail.  New tighter guidance issued in November clearly states:

“An individual, fully manufactured good is placed on the market when it is first made available for distribution, consumption or use on the GB market (England, Scotland, and Wales) in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge. This requires an offer or agreement for the transfer of ownership, possession, or any other property right of an individual good, after the stage of manufacture is complete.”

The specific reference to distribution settles the ambiguity in this area created by previous advice, but there remain some areas of confusion, which individual businesses are asked to identify and refer to their trade body to discuss how legal opinion can be derived, this clarification is welcomed by FIS.  The guidance goes on to cover other aspects of UKCA implementation guidance.

It has been confirmed through the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) Regulatory Alignment Working Group at a meeting attended by representatives of FIS this week, that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ (responsible for the regulation of construction products) is content that this guidance is consistent for construction products.

The guidance can be read in full here: UKCA Implementation Guidance (November 2021).

To support the publication of this guidance, BEIS are running a number of webinars to support the sector.

Preparing for UKCA labelling requirements Tuesday 7 December 2021 at 2pm
Placing goods on the market in Great Britain Tuesday 14 December 2021 at 2pm
Placing goods on the market in Northern Ireland Thursday 16 December 2021 at 2pm

The CLC working group remains concerned about the following areas:

  • Impending date for CA mark CE Mark transition to end versus state of readiness within the sector
  • Can current UK Approved bodies and testing houses cope with all their retesting and certification work needed to implement the CA Mark
  • When can historical data be used and when cannot it be used
  • Potentially limiting and confusion in protocols for sub-contracting testing
  • How are change can be implemented in existing long term contracts
  • The definition of batches when it comes to transition dates
  • Clarity over numerous issues related to the Northern Ireland protocol
  • What happens with components of a CA marked products that could be CE marked and what happens when a component needs replacement
  • The rules related to rebadging be used and how stock needs to be rebadged
  • Whether and when will EU provide clearance for EOTA guidance to be used
  • Clarity on whether the Secretary of State has to publish European Assessment Documents and guidance to support the UK Approved Bodies in issuing UKCA marking

To highlight the extent of these concerns the CLC has written to the Secretary of State – you can read the letter here.

The FIS Brexit Toolkit is available here