CECE participates in the second series of industry roundtables on the UK’s approach to product marking

In light of the recent developments, the UK Government expressed interest in hearing perspectives and collecting reactions from the industry on the new UK’s approach to product marking. To this end, a new series of roundtables was hosted at the British Chamber of Commerce in Brussels on 21 September. These roundtables followed on from the first set of industry roundtable held earlier this year, which CECE also attended in June. 

The session opened with an initial presentation from the DBT’s product regulation team concerning the CE extension announcement for DBT product regulation. Participants were informed that:  

a. The UK intends to legislate to extend recognition of the CE marking for Great Britain indefinitely. This will continue to allow recognition of goods that meet EU requirements, using the CE marking in England, Scotland, and Wales.  
b. Businesses will continue to have flexibility to choose to use either the UKCA or CE marking when placing goods on the market in Great Britain. 
c. This CE recognition approach will apply to regulations owned by DBT, covering 18 sectors (different timeframes and rules for other products). CE marking is already recognised in Northern Ireland.
d. Businesses will continue to enjoy unfettered access to the GB market and the EU single market. CE marking will be an acceptable method for compliance for a wide range of goods in the UK. 
e. The UK will refine the proposed approach with industry in the coming months and plan to introduce legislation to make this change before the current CE recognition period ends (31 December 2024).

The ensuing Q&A session was aimed at gathering stakeholders’ views in support of the on-going UK product regulation policy development. This time, the questions were more focused on technical aspects to facilitate further policy refinement, such as:  

• Opportunities/challenges resulting from the indefinite extension of CE marking recognition; 
• Divergence between UK and EU systems; and 
• Measures to reduce businesses costs.  

CECE expressed industry’s main concerns over the continued ambiguity the UK government is creating by indefinitely postponing UKCA marking. Although the UK decision to extend CE marking recognition was positively received by the sector, it was outlined that construction equipment manufacturers are able and strive to meet the deadlines initially set. In addition, full alignment between the UK and EU model combined with a harmonized approach is key to facilitate EU-UK trade for construction equipment. Another relevant aspect highlighted was the importance of clarifying whether the CE marking extension will be maintained after 2027, date of application of the new Machinery regulation.  

CECE will closely follow the developments of the UK product marking legislation and remains open to future roundtables to support members and continue advocating for the necessity of harmonization and clarity over EU-UK trade rules.