UKCA & UKNI Marking Guidance V2

At a glance:

With the new UKCA Mark coming into force on 1 January 2021, this 36 page guide has been published to support members in navigating the new complexities it brings. The guide was updated in August 2021 following the Government announcement regarding the postponement of the requirement for manufacturers to adopt the UK Conformity Assessment (UKCA) mark for goods placed in the UK market.

Highlights:

This guide will inform manufacturers, distributors and importers of those furniture products affected, what they will need to do from 1st January 2021. It is important to note that all the detail of how this is going to work will evolve over the next month as regulations get ‘tweaked’ in preparation for the actuality of ‘running’ these regulations from the 1st January 2021. FIRA will endeavour to update this guidance as soon as anything significant changes.

The focus for this guide is on manufacturers of furniture products that currently (up until 1st Jan 2021) fall under one or more of the CE marking directives. With regards to the UK market, the majority of CE Marking legislation is written into UK law and the legislation that is not will be transposed into UK law as the UK leaves the EU.

The UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) marking is the new UK product marking that will be used for certain goods being placed on the market of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) when we fully leave the EU.

For GB manufacturers of furniture products, the mark is called up by the “Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) regulations 2019”, which amends the current regulations that implement CE marking in Great Britain.

The Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) regulations 2019 covers those furniture products that previously required CE marking under the following EU Directives common to furniture products:

• Low Voltage Directive (LVD) (2014/35/EU)
• Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Directive (2014/30/EU)
• Radio Equipment Directive (RED) (2014/53/EU)
• Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC
• Toy Directive 2009/48/EC

And also covers other legislation such as General product safety, ATEX, cosmetic, metrology, PPE, pressure equipment, recreational craft. It's worth noting that there will be separate rules for medical equipment, construction products, and areas like vehicle certification, where there will be a new VCA driven vehicle approval mark.

The UKCA mark does not apply to Northern Ireland which will use a new mark called the UKNI mark alongside the CE mark in some circumstances. In Northern Ireland, CE marking will continue to be used to show goods meet EU rules after 1st Jan 2021.

For NI manufacturers of furniture products the EU directive for CE marking still applies with a caveat for specific products using a UK approved body to carry out third-party conformity assessments in which manufacturers will need to also apply a UKNI mark.

The guide covers:

• Explanation of the UKCA Mark, and the UKNI Mark
• Timeline requirements for the Great Britain Mark, and the Northern Ireland Mark
• Accepted Markings for different markets
• EU Notified Bodies and UK Approved Bodies
• Third-Party conformity assessment and self-certification
• UK Legislation Governing UKCA - SI 2019:696 (The Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019)
• Validity of Standards and test reports
• UK Declaration of Conformity
• Manufacturer’s responsibilities in different scenarios
• UKCA and UKNI – how will it impact on 1st January 2021