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Placing manufactured goods on the market in Northern Ireland
What you need to do to comply with regulations on manufactured goods you place on the Northern Ireland market.
The government intends to legislate to continue recognition of EU requirements, including the CE marking, indefinitely for a range of product regulations this spring. This will mean businesses have the flexibility to use either the UKCA or CE marking to sell products in Great Britain.
The government is introducing a new Fast-Track provision which will allow manufacturers to place products on the GB market where they meet the EU essential requirements and where required have been conformity assessed by an EU recognised conformity assessment body.
To benefit from this provision manufacturers will need to affix the UKCA marking (in a way that is allowed) and draw up the UK declaration of conformity, listing compliance with the relevant EU legislation. This also means that where products fall within multiple regulations, a mixture of both UKCA and CE conformity assessment procedures can be used.
This is designed to provide longer-term certainty and flexibility for businesses should the UK mandate UKCA for certain regulations in the future.
Continued recognition of current EU requirements, including the CE and reversed epsilon markings, will apply to 21 product regulations, including the 18 product regulations owned by the Department of Business and Trade, previously announced on 1 August 2023. Following feedback from industry, we are also continuing recognition for a further 3 regulations covering: ecodesign, civil explosives, and in most circumstances restriction of hazardous substances (in electrical equipment).
Separately, following feedback from businesses, the Government also intends to bring forward an additional statutory instrument to legislate for further measures in Spring 2024.
This will provide permanent labelling flexibility, allowing:
- The UKCA marking to be placed on a sticky label or accompanying document.
- Importers of goods from any country outside the UKto provide their details either on the product itself, on an accompanying document, the packaging or on an adhesive label. This means all businesses placing products on the GBmarket will benefit from this measure and have the option to provide their details either indelibly on the product itself, on an accompanying document, the packaging or on an adhesive label.
- The voluntary option to use digital labelling. Businesses will be able to apply the UKCA marking, manufacturer details and importer details digitally.
Additional details for these measures will be provided in due course, including which regulations the measures will apply to.
The DBT regulations in scope of this announcement are:
- Equipment for use in potentially explosive atmospheres Regulations 2016/1107
- Electromagnetic compatibility Regulations 2016/1091
- Lifts Regulations 2016/1093
- Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016/1101
- Pressure Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016/1105
- Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations 2015/1553
- Recreational Craft Regulations 2017/737
- Radio Equipment Regulations 2017/1206
- Simple Pressure Vessels (Safety) Regulations 2016/1092
- Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011/1881
- Aerosol Dispensers Regulations 2009/ 2824
- Gas Appliances ( EU Regulation) 2016/426
- Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008/1597
- Noise Emission in the Environment by Equipment for use Outdoors Regulations 2001/1701
- Personal Protective Equipment ( EU Regulation) 2016/425
- Measuring Instruments Regulations 2016/1153
- Non-automatic weighing instruments Regulations 2016/1152
- Measuring Container Bottles (EEC Requirements) Regulations 1977
For Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA):
- Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2012 (‘The RoHS Regulations’)
For Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ):
- Ecodesign for Energy-Related Products Regulations 2010
For Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) [HSE]:
- Explosives Regulations 2014
This page will be updated to reflect the changes in due course.