Policy paper

Continued recognition of EU requirements, including CE marking, for placing products on the GB market

Published 3 February 2025

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

Product Safety and Metrology etc (Amendment) Regulations 2024

In May 2024, Parliament passed the Product Safety and Metrology etc (Amendment) Regulations 2024, which applies to 21 product regulations. This includes the 18 product regulations owned by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), and following feedback from industry, the relevant regulations under the remit of:

• Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ)
• Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

This legislation applies to Great Britain and came into force on 1 October 2024.

Businesses will continue to have the flexibility to use either the UKCA marking or the CE marking to place relevant products on the GB market. This is designed to provide longer-term certainty and flexibility for businesses.

This legislation also introduces additional flexibility that will allow manufacturers to use the UKCA marking to demonstrate that they have met either UK or recognised EU essential requirements and conformity assessment procedures for each regulation that applies to a product (within the 21 product areas to which the legislation applies).

This means that, where a product is subject to multiple regulations, for example regulated for safety by one regulation and for environmental impact by another regulation, a combination of both UK and EU conformity assessment procedures may be used to demonstrate compliance with UK requirements and the UKCA marking affixed. This may be particularly helpful if the UK decided in the future to mandate UKCA for certain regulations.

Businesses may still be able to benefit from continued compliance with recognised EU regulations with conformity assessment undertaken by an EU Notified Body. However, if EU rules were no longer recognised, manufacturers would need to comply with UK regulations (as they apply in GB) using UK conformity assessment bodies, where mandated UK regulations require third-party conformity assessment.

Manufacturers continue to be responsible for the compliance of their product and should consider the overlap of regulations when more than one regulation applies to their product.

Read more about placing products on the GB market: recognition of EU requirements. The full list of regulations that are in and out of the scope of this legislation, including the CE marking, are also listed here.

Product Regulation and Metrology Bill

The Product Safety Review public consultation ran from August to October 2023 and set out the then government’s ambitions to develop a product safety regime. Evidence collected through this review, along with recognition of the complexities around continued recognition of EU requirements, was fundamental in the case for bringing forward the powers in the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill.

On 4 September 2024, the government introduced the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill into Parliament. The bill will enable the UK to:

• manage regulatory changes and emerging threats and hazards
• update relevant laws as necessary
• maintain high product requirements
• adapt to new technological advances, such as AI
• ensure the legal responsibilities of online marketplaces are clear and enforceable
• improve compliance and enforcement
• update the legal metrology framework