December 2022
The following announcement from the Office of Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) released Friday 23 December 2022 regarding the use of EU test information for UKCA marking. The full update can be read via the link.
Construction Products Regulation in Great Britain – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Published 1 September 2020
Last updated 22 December 2022
- 22 December 2022
Page updated to reflect OPSS will not take enforcement action against any economic actor solely where the UKCA mark has been used on construction products tested only by an EU recognised notified body for the purpose of CE marking, where this testing was done before 31 December 2022.
We note the use of the phrase “… tested only by an EU recognised notified body …” as this will still be an issue for those whose products have been partly tested by both a UK Approved Body and partly by an EU Notified Body. Further clarity from OPSS is being sought on this point, but as it stands we have no further information.
The Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has announced an extension for the recognition of CE marking
DLUHC has updated its guidance providing practical information for placing construction products on the GB market.
The key statement is,
“Our intention is to end recognition of the CE mark in GB on 30th June 2025. Current rules, which allow for continued recognition of the CE mark, will remain in place until legislation is laid to end recognition of the CE mark.”
Previous advice had stated the Government’s intention was to end the recognition of the CE mark in GB on 30th December 2022 so the recognition of the CE mark has been extended by a further 2.5 years.
The updated guidance can be accessed here.
Guidance providing practical information for placing construction products on the Northern Ireland market and unfettered access provisions can be accessed here.
Under UKCA marking rules manufacturers must make a declaration of performance for those products they place on the market that fall within the scope of a designated standard. The Government’s list of designated standards can be accessed here.
There is a great range of designated standards but the ones that are most relevant to BWF members are for garage doorsets, windows, external doorsets including external fire doorsets, solid wood panelling for internal use, and solid wood cladding for external use.
These designated standards are,
EN 13241:2003+A2:2016, Industrial, commercial, garage doors and gates — Product standard, performance characteristics
EN 14351-1:2006+A2:2016, Windows and doors — Product standard, performance characteristics — Part 1: Windows and external pedestrian doorsets
EN 14915:2013, Solid wood panelling and cladding — Characteristics, evaluation of conformity and marking
EN 16034:2014, Pedestrian doorsets, industrial, commercial, garage doors and openable windows — Product standard, performance characteristics — Fire resisting and/or smoke control characteristics.
Most BWF members will have had their products tested by UK notified laboratories for CE marking and these laboratories are likely to have been automatically accepted as UK designated laboratories for UKCA marking.
The systems of Assessment and Verification of Constancy of Performance (AVCP) determine the level of involvement of test laboratories and certification bodies when determining certain characteristics of a construction product. Those characteristics that have a greater effect on safety are assessed at higher AVCP systems, e.g. fire resistance is at AVCP system 1, whereas less critical characteristics are assessed at lower AVCP systems, e.g. U-values are at AVCP system 3. Micro enterprises, those with nine or fewer employees, enjoy a derogation that allows them to adopt AVCP system 4 procedures to determine AVCP 3 characteristics and so they are free to use any laboratory, whether UK or European, that can test in accordance with the relevant standard.
The BWF has worked with Industry partners, and principally the Construction Products Association (CPA), for almost two years to raise awareness within Government of this issue and its impact on the construction industry and we welcome the Government’s announcement.
