What does the new UKCA mark mean for UK businesses?
The UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) marking is a new UK product marking that is used for goods being placed on the market in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland). The UKCA mark will be replacing the CE mark on the products sold within the UK.
The UKCA marking came into effect on 1 January 2021 after the Brexit transition period. However, to allow businesses time to adjust to the new requirements, businesses will still be able to use the CE marking until 1 January 2022 in most cases. After this date, products must be marked with “UKCA” to be accepted in the UK.
The UKCA mark looks like this:
The UKCA marking is only applicable to England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland is excluded and products placed on the market there require CE or UKNI marking.
Currently, the UKCA mark operates the same as CE Marking, but there could be a divergence between UK and EU law in the future.
CE, UKCA and UKNI
CE and UK Regulations:
Brexit also brings changes to the UK regulations. The products will have to be assessed against the UK regulations in order to be UKCA marked. An example of comparison of CE and UK regulation is shown in the table below:
| CE Marking | UKCA Marking |
| EMC Directive | Electromagnetic Compatibility Regulation 2016 (SI 2016 No. 1901, as amended) |
| Radio Equipment Directive | Radio Equipment Regulation 2017 (SI 2017 No. 1206, as amended) |
| RoHS | Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/3032) |
| Low Voltage Directive | Electrical Equipment Safety Regulations 2016 (SI 2016 No. 1101, as amended) |
The CE and UK requirements / standards within these regulations are the same from a technical perspective for now but will change in future.
For example: The UK government is planning to change the safety requirements for some electrical equipment in next few months but EU has no such plans.
Approval Bodies:
The Regulatory / Approval bodies are no longer the same for CE and UK. Regulatory / Approval body approval is required when a product has to meet a non-harmonised standard.
- For example: Products with radio equipment (GPS, WIFI, Bluetooth, etc…)
This means that a product approved by a UK regulatory body may not be accepted in Europe and vice versa.
The UKCA and CE symbols will now need to have the regulatory body number next to marking if used.
Manufacturers in Northern Ireland have autonomous trade with ROI and rest of the UK. Products supplied in the Northern Ireland must comply with EU regulations.
Compliance is indicated by affixing CE mark or CE UKNI mark. Northern Ireland can use any approval body within EU or UK but must have the approval body number fixed to the symbol.
Captec are committed towards continued compliance and have processes in place to navigate to the UKCA marking and CE marking for its products as per customer requirements.
To learn more about our products and its certification please visit our industrial computers page or contact us.
Abdul R Mohammed
Senior Compliance Engineer | Captec Ltd