Placing manufactured products on the market in Great Britain
What you need to do to comply with regulations on manufactured products you place on the market in Great Britain.
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
This guidance is about placing manufactured products on the market in Great Britain (GB). Great Britain is England, Wales and Scotland.
There’s different guidance if you’re:
The deadline for when businesses need to use the UKCA mark has been extended.
You can continue to use the CE marking and reversed epsilon marking on the GB market until 31 December 2024.
Overview
UK conformity assessment (UKCA) marking is used on products placed on the market in Great Britain (GB). It shows that products comply with requirements in legislation applying in GB.
To allow businesses time to adjust, the government intends to bring forward legislation that would continue to allow recognition of the CE marking and reversed epsilon marking for goods being placed on the market, or put into service in Great Britain, until 11pm on 31 December 2024.
You will still need to take action to ensure you comply with importer responsibilities if you’re placing a product on the GB market from outside the UK.
Placing products on the market
A product is placed on the market when it’s first made available for distribution, consumption or use on the GB market as part of a commercial activity. This can be in return for payment or free of charge.
This happens after a product has been fully manufactured. A product is placed on the market when an offer or agreement is made for the transfer of ownership, possession or any other property right. It does not require the physical transfer of the product.
Proof that a product has been placed on the market include documents typically used in business transactions – for example:
- contracts of sale for goods
- invoices
- shipping documents for goods
‘Placing a product on the market’ refers to individual products and not a type of product.
Examples
A GB based toy manufacturer contracts to supply fully manufactured toys to a shop in GB before 11pm on 31 December 2024. The toys are individually identifiable – for example, by individual type, batch or serial numbers. This agreement constitutes placing the toys on the GB market before 11pm on 31 December 2024– even if the toys are physically delivered after that.
An overseas electronics manufacturer contracts to sell individually identifiable and fully manufactured products to an end user (a consumer, for example) who is resident in GB. This constitutes placing on the GB market.
Check which rules apply
What you need to do depends on the type of goods you’re placing on the GB market.
You must make sure that your products meet GB rules. You’ll need to do this even if they were previously sold in an EU country.
Most of this page covers goods subject to the UKCA marking.
There are different rules for products regulated under other regulatory frameworks, such as:
There are also specific rules for other products such as:
- medical devices
- rail interoperability constituents
- construction products
- civil explosives
- products requiring ecodesign and energy labelling
- cosmetics
- tobacco products
- fertilisers
Read more about which regulations apply to your products and how to comply with them. For some products, you must comply with more than one set of regulations.
You can speak to your solicitor or trade association if you are unsure which regulations apply to your products.
UKCA in other territories
The UKCA marking does not apply in the Crown Dependencies: the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey.
The UKCA marking does not apply in the British Overseas Territories.
You should check requirements with the relevant governing authorities.
Circulation of products on the GB market
If you placed products on the GB or EU markets (EU or an EEA state) before 11pm on 31 December 2020, you do not need to do anything new for these individual products.
EEA states include any country in the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
These products can continue to circulate on either market until they reach their end user. Once they reach their end user, this provision no longer applies.
This means that, for example, if the product was originally placed on the GB market, the end user cannot sell the product on the EU market without ensuring the product conforms to current EU requirements.
You can read our guidance on conformity assessment to find out more.
The relevant economic operator (whether manufacturer, authorised representative, importer or distributor) bears the burden of proof for demonstrating that the product was placed on the market before 11pm on 31 December 2020.
Find out more about economic operators and their responsibilities.
If you placed a compliant CE-marked product on the GB market before 11pm on 31 December 2024, you do not need to do anything new. Those products can continue to circulate on the GB market.
Products sold online
Fully manufactured products are considered placed on the GB market if all of the following are true:
- the products are made available online
- they’re targeted at GB end users
- an offer is made for the transfer of ownership, possession or any other property right in the product
The location of the products is not decisive – you do not need to physically transfer them to place them on the GB market.
Transactions between economic operators established outside of the UK do not constitute placing on the GB market.
Products imported for further manufacture and components
When products are imported into GB for further manufacture or processing, they are not considered placed on the market. Only fully manufactured products can be considered placed on the market. Under these circumstances, the GB manufacturer of the finished product has the sole and ultimate responsibility for ensuring it is compliant before placing it on the GB market.
A finished product must be compliant with all applicable legislation when placed on the GB market. This may include a requirement for the components of the product to be individually conformity assessed and marked. Manufacturers should check product-specific legislation for further details. See the guidance on spare parts.
However, for many products, a single marking covering the overall product is sufficient. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the manufacturer to check the conformity assessment requirements for their product and the components within them.
If you sell components separately, you must make sure they continue to meet the requirements in place when they were first placed on the GB market as part of an assembly or installation.
If the components required CE marking at the time they were first placed on the GB market, then the person selling the components must check they are currently CE marked. They must also check they are properly labelled and accompanied by the required documents.
If the person selling the components has reason to believe they do not meet the requirements (including any essential safety requirements), they must not make them available.
Partly completed machinery
There are specific provisions on ‘partly completed machinery’. Partly completed machinery which is covered by the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 does not need to be UKCA marked. It’s the completed machinery itself that will need to be UKCA marked when placed on the market or put into service. However, if the partly completed machinery is also covered by other regulations, then it must comply with those regulations as well.
Spare parts
Products which are repaired, refurbished or exchanged without changing their original performance, purpose, or type, are not considered ‘new’ and therefore do not need to be recertified and remarked.
This includes if the product is temporarily exported for repair (as the product is not being placed on the GB market for the first time when re-imported).
Repair, replacement and maintenance operations are often carried out using other products which are spare parts. Spare parts are considered to have been placed on the market at the time at which the original product or system they are ultimately intended to repair, replace or maintain was placed on the market.
This means that spare parts can comply with the same conformity assessment requirements that were in place at the time the original product or system they are ultimately intended to repair, replace or maintain was placed on the market.
The definition of a spare part will vary depending on the commercial context, but it is broadly determined by a product’s ultimate intended usage. Whether a product is ultimately intended to be used as a spare part should be evidenced by any document demonstrating this intended use, which should be produced when requested by market surveillance authorities.
If the product has been subject to important changes, substantially changing its original performance, purpose, or type, it will be considered as a ‘new’ product. Therefore, the modified product must comply with GB regulatory requirements at the time the product is first placed on the market or put into service.
This guidance is intended to sit alongside existing provisions for spare parts in the regulations and continues established practice in GB.
Prototypes and testing
Prototypes which are not yet made available for distribution, consumption or use on the GB market do not require UKCA marking. However, the prototype must only be displayed or demonstrated under controlled conditions at trade fairs or exhibitions in GB. This means the product needs to be operated by experts, there must be restricted public contact with the product, the product must not interact inappropriately with other neighbouring products, and it must be clearly indicated on a sign that the product does not meet the GB requirements and will not be made available until it does.
Products undergoing testing or validating pre-production of units do not require UKCA marking. They are still considered to be in the stage of manufacture and therefore have not been placed on the GB market.
However, fully manufactured products intended for consumer testing need to meet the UK requirements as they apply in GB at the time the consumer testing takes place.
Products brought into GB for temporary use
Products which have already been placed on the market or put into service in GB before 11pm on 31 December 2024 (which would include being brought in for temporary use) would not need to be re-certified or re-marked if brought in for temporary use again.
Similarly, if they have been placed on the market or put into service in the EU before 11pm on 31 December 2020, they can continue to circulate on the GB market until they reach their end user.
Leasing and hiring
Transfer of ownership, possession, or any property right of an individual product is considered to have taken place in the circumstances of a sale, a loan, hiring and leasing.
However, repeated leasing and hiring of the same product, which has been placed on the GB market before 11pm on 31 December 2024, will not require re-marking if loaned, leased, or hired after this date. The repeated leasing, loaning, and hiring of a product is defined as further ‘making available’ and therefore does not require re-marking. However, before every leasing, loaning, or hiring the person leasing out, loaning out or hiring out the product will need to check that the requirements are still met.
The date a product is placed on the market can be demonstrated by any document ordinarily used in business transactions, for example a contract of sale or invoice which details the serial number of the product.
Second-hand products
If a second-hand product was lawfully first placed on the EU market before 11pm on 31 December 2024, it can subsequently be made available on the GB market without the need for UKCA marking, as long as it hasn’t reached its end user. However, if they have been substantially modified, there may be a need for remarking.
Webinars
We will continue to run webinars over the next few months on placing manufactured products on the market.
Last updated 14 November 2022 + show all updates
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The deadline for when businesses need to use the UKCA mark has been extended. You can continue to use the CE marking and reversed epsilon marking on the GB market until 31 December 2024.
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Guidance restructured for clarity.
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The government will introduce legislation so that the UKCA marking can be placed on a label affixed to the product or on a document accompanying the product until 31 December 2025. The government is also introducing legislation to reduce re-certification/re-testing costs for UKCA marking.
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You can continue to use the CE marking for goods placed on the market in Great Britain until 1 January 2023. The UKCA marking must be used for placing goods on the market in Great Britain from 1 January 2023. The UKCA marking can be used now and we encourage businesses to start using the UKCA marking as soon as possible.
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We have updated the ‘Relevant UK and EU legislation’ section to remove inaccurate legislation.
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First published.