UKCA: hit or miss?

After the UK's Brexit from the EU, as you know, an alternative to the CE marking was also devised. This was supposed to become mandatory one year after Brexit but was repeatedly postponed.

And, believe it or not, the whole story has now pretty much been scrapped. "Pretty much" because medical devices and construction products are still subject to these UKCA requirements and must therefore be marked accordingly, but the rest of the products can simply, as before, be placed on the market in Great Britain with CE.

For most products, UKCA has been postponed indefinitely, which means it is not and will not be mandatory. However, there are, of course, exceptions such as:

• Medical devices
• Construction products
• Marine equipment
• Railway products
• Cableway installations
• Transportable pressure equipment
• Unmanned aircraft systems regulations.

If you would like more details, you can find them at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-the-ukca-marking

Many entrepreneurs, however, invested a relatively large amount of money to clarify the requirements for UKCA in addition to the CE marking and implement them on their products, type plates, declarations, documentation, etc.

And, if your product already fell under the mandatory involvement of a Notified Body (NOBO) for CE, then according to the British, this had to be done again by an institution located on their island. Money was also pumped into that, and it is therefore no longer necessary, with the exception of medical devices and construction products.

Could the British not have foreseen this in advance? I think so, the government should know what needs to be put in place for an alternative to CE, but unfortunately not.