Introduction

Update: The UK government has recently extended the deadline for mandatory UKCA marking on applicable goods sold in the UK to 1^st January 2023.

As of 1^st January 2023, goods subject to CE and not classed as medical devices, must be compliant to UKCA and marked accordingly if they are to be put on the UK market. UKCA marking officially became a requirement as of 1^st January 2021 with two years of grace giving manufacturers and importers two years to get their CE goods compliant with UKCA regulations. Medical devices have until 30^th June 2023 before they require a UKCA mark to be put on the UK market. This applies to both applicable UK manufactured goods and imported goods.

1^st January 2023 is effectively the deadline for manufacturers to make this transition, goods place on the UK market on after 31^st December must be UKCA. If the goods were placed on the market before 31st December 2022, these goods will not need to be recertificated as they can continue to circulate on the market until they reach the end user.

Placing on the market is defined as a fully manufactured (individual) good that is ‘placed on the market’ when a written or verbal agreement (or offer of an agreement) to transfer ownership or possession or other property rights in the product that is exchanged. This does not require physical transfer of the goods.

This means that individual UK manufactured CE marked products sold, loaned or released in UK in any way within the UK from the manufacturer before 1^st January 2023 will not require a UKCA mark.

For example, a computer model sold in to a UK customer on 31^st of December 2022 only requires CE marking, another computer of the same model sold on 2^nd of January 2023 to the same customer will require a UKCA mark. That unit can be bare both the UKCA mark and the CE mark as long as it meets the requirements for both marking schemes.

Northern Ireland has its own version of the UKCA mark which is a UKNI mark. The CE mark is also still valid in Northern Ireland.

At the time of publishing this the principal differences between CE and UKCA are administrative. This will remain the case as long as UK and EU legislation remain aligned.

Regulatory marking for UK and Europe

• Applicable Goods only put on the market in England, Scotland and Wales only require a UKCA mark.

• Applicable Goods only put on the market in Europe only require a CE mark.

• Applicable Goods put on the market in England, Scotland, Wales and Europe will require both a UKCA mark and a CE mark.

• Applicable Goods only put on the market in Northern Ireland which do not require third party testing will require a CE mark only.

• Applicable Goods requiring mandatory third party testing which are put on the market in Northern Ireland will require a UKNI mark and a CE mark.

• Applicable Goods which do not require mandatory third party testing which are put on the market in Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales will require a CE mark and a UKCA mark.

• Applicable Goods requiring mandatory third party testing which are put on the market in Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales will require a UKNI mark, a CE mark and a UKCA mark.

Routes to UKCA compliance

Relevant European Directives have a UK specific equivalent known as a UK Statutory Instrument (SI), and the European EN standards UK equivalent is BS EN standard.  As a result, the scope of goods covered, technical requirements and conformity assessment procedures will essentially be like for like.

This means that if your goods meet the requirements for Safety, EMC Emissions, EMC susceptibility and ROHS for CE marking, it will also meet the requirements for UKCA marking.

There are two main routes to compliance for IT and telecommunications goods; self-certification and the Notified Body/Approved Body route.

Self-certification enables manufacturers to UKCA mark their goods by creating a technical file containing all information/certification required for that product to prove compliance to the relevant Statutory instruments and BS EN standards. From this, a UK declaration of conformity is produced, with the manufacturer taking on all legal responsibility with regards to compliance.

The alternative is to get a UKAS approved body to test and certify the product and produce a UK declaration of conformity. The UKAS approved body will assess conformity and manage the technical file.

However, ultimately it is the UK manufacturer or the authorised representative (a legal entity designated by non-UK manufacturers) who take on the responsibility for the UKCA declaration of conformity.

A UKAS notified body can’t issue a CE mark unless they already have an office in the EU, or they work with an EU notified body who can issue the CE mark for them.

It works the other way around for EU notified bodies wishing to UKCA mark goods.

UK declaration of conformity

The UKCA declaration of conformity will look very much the same as a CE declaration of conformity but will reference UK statutory instruments instead of EU directives, and BS EN standards rather than EN standards. Beside the title of the document and showing a UKCA symbol, the rest of the information will be the same.

The UKCA declaration of conformity and the CE declaration of conformity must be separate documents, with separate technical files.

If we take a standard embedded computer which is classed as IT and telecommunications equipment as an example, the table below shows the applicable EU directive and EN standards for CE beside the UK Statutory instrument and BS EN standard.

Directives

2014/35/EU  – The EU low voltage directive.

2014/30/EU –  The EU EMC directive.

2011/65/EU – The EU directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (ROHS2). Incorporating EU directive 2015/863.

Standards

EN 62368-1:2020+A11:2020 – Safety requirements for audio/video, information and communication technology equipment.

EN 55032:2015 Electromagnetic compatibility of multimedia equipment. Emission requirements

EN 55035:2017+A11:2020 – Electromagnetic compatibility of multimedia equipment. Immunity requirements

EN IEC 63000:2018 – Technical documentation for the assessment of electrical and electronic products with respect to the restriction of hazardous substances

UK Statutory Instruments

SI 2016/1091 – The Electromagnetic Compatibility Regulations 2016.

SI 2016/1101 – The Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016.

SI 2012/3032 – The Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2012.

UK Standards

BS EN 62368-1:2020+A11:2020 – Safety requirements for audio/video, information and communication technology equipment.

BS EN 55032:2015 – Electromagnetic compatibility of multimedia equipment. Emission requirements.

BS EN 55035:2017+A11:2020 – Electromagnetic compatibility of multimedia equipment. Immunity requirements.

BS EN IEC 63000:2018 – Technical documentation for the assessment of electrical and electronic products with respect to the restriction of hazardous substances.

UKCA Mark:

CE Mark:

The list of products that are covered by UKCA marking can be found in the following link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-the-ukca-marking#more-information.

Published guidance on Designated standards can be found in the following link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/designated-standards#conformity-assessment-andmanagement-systems.